Consequences
by KageOkami-Kogo
Summary: Not everyone is happy with the former zombies rejoining society. Not everyone wants to give R a chance to fully heal and have a happy new life. Sometimes, one must face the consequences life deals them, even an unlife. Julie stands by R's side though, teaching him how to be human again, and facing the pain and obstacles with him as he walks down the bumpy road to recovery. R/Julie
1. Chapter 1

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

_At night they would go walking till the breaking of the day _

_The morning is for sleeping _

_Through the dark streets they go searching to see God in their own way _

_Save the night time for your weeping, your weeping_

~ Coldplay - Cemeteries of London

**A/N:** This story begins BEFORE the very last scene in the movie, right after R realizes that he's alive again. It is what R narrates about. Do enjoy! Shout-outs will be at the bottom.

**Attention: This story has been stolen and republished on multiple websites! Please, be a decent human being and ask me for permission before using my story or parts of it! Or at least tie me to it in some way!**

**Rating: T for**: blood, pain, language, action, drama, and suggestive material later.

* * *

_"J-Julie?"_

_"Hm?"_

_"I... uh, l-love... you," R murmured._

Julie Grigio blinked back to reality, fighting off a blush. R had whispered that soft confession just before they were ushered out of the humvee, a little while ago. She sat still a moment, staring at the hard concrete beneath her feet. She heard the commotion around her, heard the voices floating around her head, but didn't notice a thing. Was this really happening? Her mind wandered far away, a month ago, seven years ago, lost and overwhelmed with it all.

This was crazy.

Julie _knew _it was.

How could it not be?

If you were to tell her last month, that she would be _saved_ by a zombie, _from _zombies, she would have rolled her eyes and ignored you. If you would have told her that she'd _befriend_ said zombie, and then be a witness to his rebirth? She'd let you know how crazy you were and probably avoid you for a while. Now, if you told her then that she'd _also_ maybe even start to feel pretty serious feelings for him, - a _zombie_ - in the process, besides everything else... why she'd laugh in your face and call a medical team, because _clearly_ there was something very wrong with you.

But now... now she wasn't sure what to think, or how to process everything that had happened to her recently. Let's start at the beginning, shall we? She had just turned twelve, she was having a semi-normal life with her parents, she was with her friends, emailing her pen pal who told her a world called college where kids were free from most responsibilities, and her mom was still alive. Things in the world were still horrible of course, there were reports of strange things happening but it was too far and between to make anyone really pay attention to the signs. At least, that's how it was in her mind. And then in a span of a few months things went from really bad to much worse.

She was forced out of her home with her parents, her city had been exed. She lost so much during that time, including the spirit of hope from her parents. Freedom from responsibilities was but a fantasy now. She had seen some terrible things, had to do some terrible things too, and it all just got worse. She had thought, as long as she had her parents, she would be okay. But that was not to be. She had lost her mother not long after they found the stadium city. Her dad just seemed to lose it from there. He became rigid and devoid of most emotions, no better than the seemingly emotionless corpses they fought. She had met a wonderful boy during her first few years there, Perry. He was a bundle of hope and energy in the bleak world that she lived in. Things were great between them for the first couple years, until reality started to grab hold of him too. Perry, like her father, 'grew up', put away hope and dreams and stuck to reality. He became cold and distant, even going as far as rejecting affection from her some times.

He had died long before his last hunt.

Julie had had a moment of pure unadulterated grief the moment she realized she had lost him. But to her surprise, acceptance and even relief replaced it nearly immediately after. He, like her mother, had wanted so very badly to escape the world anyway. After all, the full dead do not experience this hellish world, do not want for anything. Even the zombies want for food. Things had been so colorless and dreary for Julie, that is, until she met the anomaly known as R. He had told her _she _had been instrumental in reviving him, what they had, whatever that was, was the reason 'life' was spreading like a disease amongst the rest of zombie-kind. Quicker than she had anticipated, things started to change when she met him, he brought a splash of color to her gray world, even though he himself had still been mostly gray at the time.

Could it all have really been fate? Or was she kidding herself again?

He was a zombie with a heart. More heart and hope, it seemed, than her parents or Perry ever seemed to have. He selflessly kept her safe, saved her life countless times, and even scoured the city for her when she all but abandoned him. How could she reject such devotion? And so she let him in and accepted him. It was then she started seeing a greater more rapid change in him. His skin had started to lose its bluish pale color, his speech started to improve, and he even started smelling less and less like a... well, like a zombie. It wasn't really until he started to _bleed_, -when her dad shot him, that she realized he had been right all along. She _had _helped change him. And if he had been right about that... then that meant that M and the other zombies would soon live as well! It was all crazy, all a bit overwhelming. What was morbidly funny now, -and tragically not, was that now that R was alive again, he was losing too much blood. If the doctors didn't come soon, he would be really dead this time! If it had been fate, fate had a pretty grim sense of humor. But then, she already knew that.

R watched Julie closely from his spot on the cot he was taken to. He and Julie sat in a clinic like area, an infirmary, a large tent with curtains and old medical machines and beds all over. His bed was on the far end of the infirmary. It had been fortunate that most of the people around hadn't known what he had been, so they just glanced at him curiously when he was brought over. He wasn't a former zombie to them, he was simply a stranger. He knew that would eventually change, but for now he was grateful. He sat there quietly, not paying attention to the conversation Julie's dad was having with one of the doctors there, he simply sat and watched the woman he loved, seeing the very familiar look in Julie's eyes. He recognized that look well, it was a look that always stared back at him in his reflection when he stared out the windows at the airport. It was the look of someone trapped in their own mind, wishing they could escape it and rejoin the living.

A sudden voice broke Julie and R out of their reverie. "Hello, my name is doctor Martinez." The two looked over to see who had spoken. It was a short woman who looked like she was in the middle of her life with long black hair and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses over green eyes. "You must be... R?" The doctor's brows furrowed slightly. Clearly she had been expecting a half-eaten corpse, not a semi-normal looking young man. R looked up and nodded slowly. The doctor smiled cautiously and seemed to hesitate before walking over and pulling out a little black pen from her pocket. "Look this way please, try not to blink," she instructed and held the pen in his eye. R was surprised that it was a flashlight and tried hard to follow the doctor's instructions. He was also surprised by how much the light in his eyes hurt him.

"Amazing..." Martinez muttered to herself. She had no doubt expected the ethereal gray eyes of an undead, not the strikingly blue eyes that stared back at her."Alright well, you have proper dilation, so you haven't gone into shock, that's good," the doctor nodded, then turned to Julie. "Ms. Grigio, would you mind waiting outside? He needs that bullet out of him, he'll have to have surgery," the doctor explained, glancing over to her patient to include him in the discussion. The young man looked glum but pensive, listening to every word she said intently.

"Oh, right, sure," Julie hesitated, giving R one last anxious look before reluctantly leaving the makeshift hospital.

Martinez turned to her patient once more. Her smile came a little easier now. "If you would please remove your jacket and shirt, we need to get started right away," the doctor instructed, motioning her staff that it was time. R did as he was told, wincing every now and then when he moved his arm too much. Pain was a novelty to him, he hadn't remembered what it was like, he had gone so long without feeling it. Once he removed the clothing needed, the medical team seemed to stare at his wound in fascination for a moment. They had been made aware of what he was before, and what he became. Seeing a former zombie bleeding steadily like a normal living person must have been too much of shock to process so easily. Soon enough though they were instructing him to lay down.

R was not afraid of what would happen, not afraid of the pain he would feel. They had told him they didn't know if his body could process the anesthetics, did not know what the chemicals would even do to him, so they were going to dig around his flesh for the bullet and then patch him back up without it. R didn't mind, the pain he felt while they did this was good, it told him he wasn't dead anymore, it told him his cells were alive again and warning his body that something was wrong. He had not had so much communication with his body in a very long time. Maybe it was the need to rest after everything that happened. Maybe it was all the sudden amount of pain he endured, or maybe his body was simply resisting the change. Whatever it was, as soon as the nurse finished wrapping his wound up in a bandage, R felt his eyes shut and then everything went dark.

Two hours, it had been two hours. Julie couldn't get herself to stop pacing. Nora wasn't even around to calm her done this time, she was being questioned at the moment. She was no longer sought for her arrest, but she had some questions her dad wanted answered anyway. So Julie was left to her thoughts. Was he dead? Did the surgery work? Was he still bleeding? Had it been too late? Did her father kill the only other man she started having feelings for?

"Ms Grigio? Somehow I knew I would find you here."

Julie turned to the voice and saw the doctor standing there. "Is he..?"

"It wasn't difficult to remove the bullet. Luckily, it was mostly in one piece. He's asleep now but you can head in to see your friend if you wish," Martinez smiled. Julie returned the smile fleetingly before she went inside and right to R's side of the clinic. She found him laying on his cot. This wasn't the first time seeing him without a shirt, she had caught a glimpse when she and Nora were cleaning him up to sneak into the city, but it _was _the first time she had seen how badly injured his body really was. When he had been... well, partially zombie, his old wounds and scars were static, they were just there, no bleeding, and even not that noticeable. But with him alive and bleeding, she could see the bruises, scrapes, scratches, and lesions on him. He looked like he had been hit by a truck and the truck backed up on him a couple times.

"Oh my God," Julie muttered, her eyes glued to the grisly scene. It wasn't until she noticed the other set of hands over the right side of his stomach that she realized a nurse was also there, still working on cleaning him up. The nurse glanced over when she felt Julie's eyes on her momentarily and flashed her a sympathetic smile. "He's... asleep?" Julie frowned in concern.

"We're not sure. He might be in a coma. We don't have the proper equipment to find out exactly, but since the operation he hasn't stirred for anything," the nurse answered calmly. "I wouldn't worry though, he didn't have any head injuries as far as we know, so if it _is _a coma, it _shouldn't_ be a very long one. He may just need to recover," the nurse explained gently. "You have a very unique friend here," she added.

"Yeah..." Julie half laughed. She watched the nurse clean him up as much as the nurse was able to and sat down by the chair next to R's bed once she left. She studied his face for a moment, noting the soft flush over his cheek. Somehow that brought a smile to his face. He was alive, the bright red life giving blood inside him was rushing through his veins again. "You're gunna be alright," Julie muttered, reaching over to brush his still damp hair from his forehead. She felt a smile tug at her lips when her fingers came in contact with warm skin. Perhaps a bit _too _warm, but if the doctor or nurse hadn't mentioned it, it was probably okay. A rustle from behind her made Julie turn her head. General John Grigio walked over, the familiar grim scowl was over his face, though it seemed a bit harder as he stared down at the unconscious form of R on the bed. "He's alive," Julie repeated with a weak smile to her father.

"Yes," John said simply.

"The nurse said they think he's in a healing coma or something," Julie went on to explain.

"I see," John answered just as gruffly as before. "I'm ah-" John seemed to struggle for words. "I'm... sorry I shot your friend," he finally told her. "I was... wrong, I should have listened to you. I'm sorry," he finished, his tone losing the edge as his eyes caught her's. Julie simply stood, walked over, and wrapped her arms around her father's middle. John stood stiffly for a moment, a bit startled, but then relaxed and let his own arms wrap around his daughter.

"Thanks," Julie said simply, before stepping back and smiling at her father.

John nodded in response. "I'll see about getting him a place to stay. We'll talk later," he said and left before Julie could suggest anything. Julie let out a breath and sat back down by R's side, studying him.

As crazy as this all was, maybe things would be alright now?

Was that really too much to ask for?

_TBC..._

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**A/N: **I hope you liked this so far. I don't do first person so deal with it lol. This story was mostly inspired by "Cemeteries of London" by Coldplay, plus the fact that there's only a handful of WB fanfics out here. This story is based on the movie version, though a lot of the missing content from the book, including the prequel, will be mentioned in this story, so it's advisable, though not necessary, to have read the books. (Though it's a crime to have not! They are _very_ good novels!) Don't expect this story to be an overly cheesy chick-flick romance story, though there will definitely be romance, that's a given.


	2. Chapter 2

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

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A steady stream of rain trickled down Julie Grigio's window. It seemed fitting, really, it fit with her current mood pretty well. She stared out, her eyes in the direction of the center of the city, where R was still unconscious. It had been two and a half days since everything happened, since his body miraculously came back to life. A day and a half since her dad forced her to go home.

"Don't sulk."

Julie half-glared over at her friend sitting across her bed. "I'm not sulking, Nora," she said with a indignant tone.

"Sure, sure," Nora nodded in false belief in her. "Should I go fetch you a tube of ice cream and a sappy movie?" she teased.

"Nora," Julie threw her a warning look, even as a smile ruined her threatening tone.

"Talk to me, Jules," Nora begged. "I haven't seen you this quiet since your mom..." the older woman trailed off with a guilty expression.

"It's alright. It's nothing really, just thinking..." Julie sighed.

"Yeah, there's a lot of that to be done, isn't there? With everything that's happened to us, to _you_," Nora nodded. "Anything specific? Or should I say, any_one_? Maybe a certain dark haired zombie-boy?" she smiled playfully.

"..._Maybe_," Julie relented and a glance back at her friend.

"I'm sure he's fine!" Nora shrugged.

"How can you say that? He was a zombie, then suddenly he wasn't a zombie, and then he got shot, and now he won't wake up and the doctors don't know why," Julie sighed once more.

"I'm sure he just needs time to recover!" Nora argued.

"That's what the doctor said..." Julie's eyes dropped to the pillow she was smothering.

"Then believe them!"

"I'd like to," Julie didn't say anything more for several minutes. If her eyes hadn't been open and staring out into the gray world outside of the room, Nora would have thought her friend had fallen asleep. She wouldn't have blamed her, all her worry was making her friend more tired than usual. Nora didn't remember Julie getting so worked up over Perry, but then, back when everything between them was still bright, she had tried to stay a bit distant from them, still feeling the guilt in what she had done to them years ago. Maybe Julie just felt too much, gave her heart too completely, even if the girl herself didn't know she did at the time. "He told me he loved me..." Nora almost thought she imagined Julie speaking again, so quiet was her voice.

"Really?" Nora's eyes nearly bugged out. "Love?"

"Yeah..." Julie nodded slowly.

"...And?" Nora probed eagerly, leaning forward in anticipation.

"And what?" Julie looked over to her friend and raised a brow.

"How do you feel for him?" Nora's eyebrow rose. "I mean, we both know he _certaintly_ has got looks going for him..." she teased.

Julie ignored her friend's tease and thought about it. "I... I'm not sure," she shook her head. "It's all so sudden. I mean, I guess I have pretty strong... _feelings_ for him... but it was kind of hard thinking that way about a corpse," she shrugged.

"But he was never really like the rest of them was he?" Nora reminded her. "And he's alive now, he's human," she added slowly.

"Yeah..." Julie relented, trying hard not to smile. "I um, well... I don't know. I guess I might, but is it because of how many times he saved me? Or what? L-Love can't just... happen, can it?" Julie's eyes bore a hundred questions as they searched Nora's for answers.

Nora sighed and glanced at the patterns on Julie's bed idly, searching for the words Julie wanted to hear. "No one can really know for sure. Some say you can fall in love the second you look at someone, something deep from within, your eyes look passed appearance and just feel. Sometimes, I guess love can come without any provocation," she smiled thoughtfully. "And maybe the very fact that whatever it was that happened between the two of you started to heal other zombies, maybe it's more of an answer than I can give you? I guess you just need to trust in that?"

Nora and Julie remained silent for a moment, both deep in thought. It wasn't until Nora started to hear a very faint, very soft snore from her friend, that she realized that this time the younger woman _had _fallen asleep. "Goodnight, Julie," Nora smiled at her friend's sleeping form, then after pause, looked out the balcony door window. "Goodnight, ...Addy..." she whispered. Funny how after so many years she still missed her little brother so much. Perhaps all this talk of love reminded her that deep in her heart, her love for her lost brother had never left her, no matter how hard she tried to forget. Love is never something easy to let go.

The next day, Julie started awake, her eyes shifting around. Somehow she imagined she was in a big 747 jet, like she had been in her dreams. Stretching her arms above her she reached forward, smiling at the John Lennon poster taped to her ceiling. "It's easy if you try," she read quote. "Try, huh?" She shut her eyes momentarily, and then forced herself out of bed. Nora had left some time in the night, it seemed. Julie felt a bit guilty, she had fallen asleep when she and Nora were talking last night. Stifling a yawn, Julie went to her closet and threw on jeans and a simple blouse before finding her jacket and heading downstairs. As usual, her father was nowhere to be found, he had always been the incredibly early riser and after years of opportunity, she had never managed to wake up as early as him and see what he did each morning.

Grabbing a cube of Carbtein and grimacing after popping it into her mouth, she headed out, straight for the clinic to check on R. Walking in she smiled fleetingly at the nurses around the tent and ducked through the curtains of R's side of the infirmary. He was still motionless but he definitely looked better today. He was still deathly pale, but he no longer hand the ugly black protruding veins or the dark circles around his eyes. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm and she was happy to find him hooked to a heart monitor. She was happy because of how comforting it was to see the steady beat of his heart being recorded by the old machine. Julie sat down by his side and could not stop her hand from reaching forward to brush his hair gently. He was still very warm, but not quite as much as a few days ago.

"R?" She tried, waiting for his eyes to open. "You going to wake up any time, mr. zombie?" She asked with a half-hearted smile at her teasing. "Come on, shrugger. It's not nice to keep a girl waiting, you know..." she said and sighed when he didn't react in the least. "Please wake up, R, it's boring without you... M is getting ansty," she smiled again. "He's recovering almost as quickly as you now, a lot of them are... so you need to wake up, okay? Show them how to heal?" She said softly. She fell silent when she felt silly talking to someone who wouldn't respond. Her eyes fell back to the cement beneath her shoes.

"J-Jul...ie?" Julie's eyes snapped back up to R's face and found him trying to open his eyes.

"R!" Julie jumped up and hovered over him.

R's eyes opened finally and his clear blue eyes stared up into a matching set. He smiled weakly. "Hi..." he said simply and gasped when the girl practically flung herself onto him. If he hadn't been so disorientated, he might have blushed. Hold on, blush? Huh, wasn't that a spectacular concept!

"You're awake!" She laughed. She pulled back with a gasp of her own when a noticeably painful groan escaped him. "Sorry!" She said and blinked when he pulled her back into the hug. She smiled and felt herself melt slightly. His arms, he felt so warm, so unlike the couple times they had hugged. It felt _too _good maybe. "How are you?" She asked after pulling away.

"...Alive," R smiled a bit lopsidedly. It was the most endearing thing she had ever seen. She would have kissed him then and there if they hadn't been interrupted.

"Ms. Grigio?" The familiar voice of doctor Martinez made them look over. "I thought I heard voices. R, it's good to see you awake," the kind doctor walked over, smiling warmly at them. Clearly she had come to accept R far better now than when she first met him. "You gave us quite a scare when you blacked out," she went on. "May I?" She said to Julie, who stepped back from the bed. Martinez leaned in with her pen light and smiled at the results. "Your reaction to the light it a lot faster now, this is good. Tell me, how do you feel?" She asked him, replacing her pen light with a normal pen and grabbing a clipboard near the bed.

"Hurts a bit... dizzy... and I'm uh, ...th-thirsty?" R answered, sounding very unsure of himself. And why shouldn't he be? These were feelings he hadn't felt since he became a zombie.

"We'll get you some water in a moment. How much does it hurt?" Martinez questioned.

"...Not sure. Not a lot... I guess?" R told her, frowning in frustration.

"Hmm, well, you're healing very nicely. In fact, you're rate of healing is the fastest I've ever seen, though I suppose it could be due to whatever it is that brought you back? Your healing rate might return to normal once you're done healing completely? We'll just have to wait and see." Martinez paused as a nurse returned with a glass of water and the doctor watched in silence as R downed the cup in one single motion. "In any case, you're free to go now, so long as you be careful and don't stretch your arm out. You may heal faster than a lot of us, but you're still injured," the doctor warned.

"How... long?" R still felt dizzy as his eyes swept the room slowly.

"How long have you been asleep?" Martinez questioned. R nodded. "Three days," The doctor answered, watching her patient's eyes widen as they snapped back to her.

"Three days?!" R questioned.

Julie had been silent throughout the interaction and felt her own eyes widen at R's outburst. It was the most emotion she had ever heard in his voice so far. "You were in really rough shape, R..." she said quietly. "You looked worse than when you were still... dead,"Julie explained lamely.

"Your body needed time to recuperate," doctor Martinez explained. "Sometimes comas are our bodies way of healing without our own selves getting in the way and making it harder," she explained it as simply as she could.

"I see..." R nodded in understanding.

"Are you ready to get outta here?" Julie questioned. "This time you can look around the city without having to worry so much... you might even see some familiar faces," Julie smiled mysteriously.

"Mm-...May I?" R asked the doctor.

"You're free to go," Martinez smiled. She watched as Julie Grigio helped the former zombie out of the bed and snatched his clothes from the table nearby.

R felt a curious heat splash across his cheeks as Julie helped him place his shirt back on. He could feel the softness of her fingertips, and the heat of her body so close to him. He could smell her light perfume and see the goosebumps over her skin as he bent down slightly to help her. His impressive height was making it a little challenging. Their noses brushed against each other and they both blushed. "Thanks..." R muttered. Julie cleared her throat and backed away slightly, glancing around them to make sure no one saw. She nearly cringed when she saw a knowing look on Martinez' face. She took R by the hand and tugged him out.

As they walked, they felt relief that no one was looking too closely at them. A very select few people knew about R but it seemed like they were making a point not to make it obvious. The walk was slow and they remained mostly silent, simply enjoying each others company. Perhaps it was still slightly awkward for both of them. There was something happening between them, and even though R had stated clearly his feeling for her, and Julie had begun to realize that she might even return them, it was still quite a bit to process. Even so, Julie had refused to let go of his much larger hand as they walked, comforted by the innocent intimacy and the feeling of heat from his palm and fingers.

R heard a very pleasant chirping above his head and looked up to see two birds flying around each other, dancing in the air as though they were in love. Then again, that might have been the romantic side in him. Man, M was right, he was such a girl sometimes! He watched the birds collect near a patch of flowers in the distance. Julie must have seen it too for she looked over at him, pointed at them, and smiled. "Ready to stretch your legs?" She asked him.

"Huh?" R blinked curiously, not really finding the connection.

"I'll race you over to those birds," she smiled. "Come on, run with me," she suggested.

"Okay," R smiled back. He's do anything if he were doing it with her. He blinked when Julie took off then and willed his legs to move. It was slightly surprising how quickly and easier his body responded to him now. In no time as all he was jogging after her, watching her golden hair bounce behind her in silky waves. He noticed that, while he still sort of lumbered, his gait was a lot smoother than before, if still a bit awkward. Suddenly R felt the most pain he had ever felt. It was a searing pain that gripped him so tightly his scream only managed to escape his throat in a choked gasp. The ground came rushing to meet his face.

"You keeping up there, R?" Julie questioned and glanced back. When she didn't see him near her she stopped and turned. Her eyes widened when she spotted him collapsed on the ground, his face as white as she had ever seen it and a clearly pained expression on his face. "R!" Julie gasped and ran out. "What's happened? What's wrong?" R was clutching his legs and Julie could hear him breathing hard.

"Hurts... body... hurt..." he wheezed. Julie ignored the groans of pain as she knelt down to help him off the floor, and helped him back toward the clinic which, luckily, was very close by.

"What's wrong with... me?" R asked doctor Martinez after Julie had helped him limp over to the clinic.

"We'll have to run some tests, right now I can only speculate," Martinez answered, checking over his limbs where he clutched. "I don't see anything outwardly wrong with you, besides being too skinny and still much too pale," she went on. "One moment," Martinez left them alone for a few minutes.

"Does it still hurt?" Julie asked, her voice wavering slightly in concern.

"Yes..." R groaned as he lay slumped against the bed.

Moments later Martinez and a nurse returned. After running a few fat and muscle scale tests with odd little hand-held devices, Martinez nodded as if being proven correct about something, and perhaps she had been. "As I suspected. You're body's muscle to fat ratio is critically low. You have much too little fat and your muscles are severely atrophied," she explained. "It's not surprising that your health would be in such conditions. We'll have to put you on a special diet and you're going to need to start rehabilitation immediately," Martinez told him, watching her patient nod weakly. "You should start to see some improvements in a few months, though with how quickly you seem to be healing, maybe a lot less," Martinez smiled sympathetically. "It looks like your stitches opened a little, we'll have to sow them back up too."

R resisted the urge to groan. Funny how that was coming from a former zombie. This was going to be a very long, challenging month...

_TBC..._

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**A/N: **As you can probably already tell, I'm trying to write this story as realistically as I can. You'll also notice very little cursing in this story. Personally, I think it's really not all that necessary. If you don't like that... what's wrong with you? lol.

Shout-Outs:

**A New Perspective:** Well thank you lol considering I've written more stories than I can count, I'd hope I wouldn't have written this badly. Still, if you ever spot any mistakes, please let me know!

**GreenNatureGirl:** "Rulie" is a nickname my mom uses for my dad! Thanks. Glad you like it!

**Surely Sherlocked:** And I look forward to your input :P

**Fang-Delight:** I plan on updating regularly, but don't hold me to that!

**4MeJasper:** I thought it'd make sense that R would have some issues and need medical treatment, you know? After being dead and all...


	3. Chapter 3

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

_Blue Moon_

_You know just what I was there for_

_You heard me saying a prayer for_

_Someone I really could care for_

_And then there suddenly appeared before me_

_The only one my arms will hold_

_I heard somebody whisper please adore me_

_And when I looked to the Moon it turned to gold_

~ Frank Sinatra - Blue Moon

* * *

It was a few days later, three, maybe four, and R found himself in front of Julie's house after one of his rehab sessions. This had become a sort of ritual. He would wake up in the clinic and go through several different procedures throughout most of the day, and when his treatments were over for the day, he'd either get visits from M, Nora, or Julie, sometimes all three of them, or he'd make his way painfully to Julie's house. Today had been a particularly grueling day. He had cramped up so many times it had actually brought tears to his eyes. The fact that his doctor, who he had found out her full name was _Susan_ Martinez, had been so patient and sympathetic toward him, that it had only seemed to make it worse. Now the only thing he wanted to do was bask in Julie's comforting presence and ask her about her day, listen to the always pleasant melody of her voice.

"R?" John Grigio's eyes narrowed a fraction at seeing the young man in front of his door. This wasn't the first time, of course, but he still felt wary around the boy. Particularly since his daughter seemed so drawn to him. It wasn't just a case of over-protectiveness though, he was still afraid that whatever it was that changed the boy, would reverse itself. Perhaps he was being a bit paranoid, but that's what had kept him and his people more or less safe all this time.

"May I see Julie?" R asked tentatively, trying to speak as smoothly as he could. John didn't say a word or move for a few minutes, just scrutinized him, and R felt the strangest urge to fidget.

"Go on," John finally responded gruffly, stepping aside.

"Thank you, sir," R ducked his head as he went inside and limped his way up the stairs. Doing something as simple as climbing steps still caused his legs and lungs to burn. It brought him so much frustration sometimes that even his head started to hurt. This was one thing he didn't miss about being alive. The silliest things could give you pain, even simple annoyance. Knocking on her door, he waited patiently as Julie went over to her door and smiled when she opened it.

"R! Hi, come in," Julie stepped back and watched R all but stumble into the room. "Wow, you look exhausted," she mentioned, watching him looking around the room at the new pictures on the wall. She saw him looking at her "hope" wall and smiled. He had found a picture of him on it and was looking at it oddly.

"Yeah... feel it," R responded tiredly. As Julie walked over she noticed his posture strained and a grimace on his face.

"You okay?" She asked, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Shoulders hurt," he shrugged and winced.

"Bad session today?" Julie's eyebrow popped up in question.

R had almost started to revert back to his normal habit of shrugging for every question, but was getting better at catching himself. "Very," he sighed, glancing over to her and smiling weakly.

Julie nodded and turned a bit. "Here, let me help," she said, pushing herself back on her bed and gesturing for him to go over.

"Uh-" R blinked in confusion.

"Well? Come on, sit down," Julie insisted, lifting a brow at him again, and pointing to the spot in front of her. R hesitated for a fraction of a second before lumbering over and slumping down unceremoniously, causing her to stumble forward slightly.

"Sorry..." he muttered in embarrassment. Her hands on his back that she used to get her balance back was definitely not something he was sorry about though. When he felt her hands on him again he turned slightly in question, but she stopped him and made him look forward again. "What... are you-" R's question evaporated at the feel of her fingers slide over his neck and shoulders. He winced when she began to knead him like dough. In a few minutes, the pain melted into a strange but familiar feeling. Pleasure. Ah, that was a feeling he surely did miss. He sighed and let his head lull forward.

"My God, R! You're a bundle of knots," Julie frowned in concentration, ignoring the fact that despite how slim and malnourished he was, he had very nice, broad shoulders.

"Mmh..." R responded.

When R's forest green shirt made her lose her spot a few times she decided this wouldn't do. "It um..." she trailed off. Was she really about to ask him this?

"Nnh?" R's nonverbal grunt questioned.

"It would be easier if you... take your shirt off..." Julie felt herself blush and sighed inwardly at how silly and girly she was being. R didn't seem to notice anything wrong with the suggestion and went to do just that. Julie pitied his groans of pain and slow movements and went to help, ignoring again how much the situation became intimate all of a sudden. When his shirt was off she paused, his scars were very faint now and his bruises were gone. He still had a few bandages here and there but he was looking much better than before. His bullet wound was all but gone. She placed her hands back on his shoulder, grinning to herself once again at the still rather new experience of feeling warm skin underneath her hands.

"Ah..." R winced.

"What? Did I hurt you?" Julie's eyes widened. Had she stretched his bullet wound too far?

"N-No, your hands... they're cold, 'is all..." he answered.

"Oh! Sorry," Julie blushed, embarrassed, and began to move her hands again, feeling relief that she hadn't injured him. Soon enough the sigh of content told her R didn't mind her cold hands anymore. Her eyes turned to the flesh beneath her fingertips that she molded. It had only really been about a week since he started his treatments, but already there were vast improvements. He was still skinny in most places, but as she noticed before, his shoulders were broad and muscles taut under his skin. Clearly rehab and the healthy diet was doing wonders for his body. It also helped that they felt a whole 'helluva' lot better about going out to find food. The zombies didn't seem to be a problem anymore and some of them even kept the Boneys away. Things were finally starting to look up.

When R moaned again, Julie knew it was _not_ from pain and felt her face heat up again. Okay, so Nora was right. She didn't just feel a casual affection toward him born from how many times he saved her life. She was far more attracted to him than she let herself believe most times. She might even have been since the beginning, even if she had also been repulsed when she first 'met' him. He still had the qualities most girls sought in guys. Tall, dark and handsome. How cliché. But he also had other qualities since the beginning going for him. Attentive, quiet – though that could have been due to him, you know, being _dead _and all, and selfless. It was no mystery that she would fall for him. But now that he was alive again, healing, and lost nearly all evidence that he was ever dead... the attraction she had felt for him since the beginning had hit her at full force.

So now what? They hadn't had time to really bond at all since he started rehab. Now would be the perfect time, right? But what to do? Glancing down at his smooth, warm skin, she wondered how they would feel against her lips. She smiled then, remembering when he kissed her, or had she kissed him? They kissed and it was surprisingly amazing, for such a sudden and fleeting moment. She decided then that it was that that she wanted again.

Her fingers stilled over his shoulders and R picked up his head again, glancing back over to her. "Julie?" he questioned. Said girl had a thoughtful expression. Julie smiled at him and leaned forward, stopping just before her lips reached his. She waited, having liked that he had shown initiative the first time. R frowned in confusion and cautiously moved to connect their lips, turning his body to reach her easier. Their bodies reacted on instinct, R having seemed to recover this instinct pretty well thankfully. He turned and braced himself on the bed, holding himself up by keeping an arm outstretched over her other side, his other hand laying close to Julie's leg.

Julie could feel him all around her. He was so much bigger than her that it didn't take much for him to encompass all of her personal space, not that she really minded. His arm brushed against her side as he all but pinned her there. Did he know what he was doing to her? Did he know that just the feel of his lips on her's, the casual leaning into her, the way his other hand was so close to her thigh but didn't touch her, all drove her crazy? Who knew after just a few days, she would find herself here in her room with him, sharing a delicious moment like this?

The kiss was gentle and tentative at first. While Julie just marveled at the softness of his lips, his surprisingly pleasantly sweet smell, and how gentle he was, R was consumed by a rush of sensation, just as he had been the first time they kissed. R felt a rush of warmth pool inside him, tug a part of him, deep within. His eyes slid shut, just absorbing the experience. When he felt her tongue probing his lips gently, he again reacted on instinct, as if he had done this before, ages ago when he had been alive. And perhaps he had? He parted his lips and groaned at the feeling of her tongue sweeping into his mouth. He smiled into the kiss with a sense of pride when he tried reciprocating, challenging her tongue with his, and a soft sound of approval escaped her own throat.

Things seemed to speed up from there. They had been sitting on their own spots on the bed, but suddenly R found Julie crawling over to him. Julie had not been ready for the assertive flare in him, and it awakened the deepest amount of longing she had ever felt. He was _definitely _a very quick learner! When they parted for air, Julie had begun to go back in for another 'attack', but stopped and simply sat, studying him. "Julie?" he questioned again. It was then he noticed her hands had _not_ stilled like the rest of her had and he glanced down to see that she was studying his bare chest. Part of him felt like blushing, but the other part didn't know why and just enjoyed the attention she was giving him.

Astride on his lap, Julie traced the very faint and healing scars on R's chest, making him take in a sudden breath and shudder under her gentle fingertips. R had not been expecting his senses to explode with the lightest touch she gave him. Julie glanced up at him through her lashes and smiled coyly. "Did you like that?" She asked softly, continuing to caress him.

"Nnnh..." R groaned, his eyes shutting blissfully as she continued her ministration.

"Use your words, zombie-boy," Julie teased, enjoying the blush spreading over his cheeks entirely too much.

"Ye... Y-Yes..." R dutifully answered. The stutter reminded Julie so of when they first 'met' that she smiled against his warm skin fondly, tickling him slightly, making him shudder once more as she leaned in to kiss one of the scars just below his collarbone lightly. And then Julie could see something in R's eyes she hadn't expected, at least, not so soon... a deep desire, darkening his eyes pleasantly. After a few more minutes Julie found herself being pulled back into a fierce kiss. It appeared that Julie had sparked a long hidden and very male reaction to that kind of stimulation. Consumed by a fiery need to pull each other closer, they plunged into the kiss. Julie felt herself shudder in pleasure at the feeling of heat coming off him in waves. As she eagerly responded to the surprisingly heated, very well-coordinated kiss, she had to wonder how sensitive he was, how he might react to something other than a simple touch. That could be fun to experiment with...

A rough throat clearing behind them shocked them out of the kiss. Julie noticed that her fingers had somehow managed to find themselves in R's silky hair and she retrieved them as she turned to see who was there. She prayed to everything holy that it wasn't her father. Immense relief flooded them both when it was M standing there, not their executioner. "Did I... interrupt..?" M's grin was so wide he almost looked like a Boney.

"...A little..." R answered before Julie could say anything. His blush was still very dominant on his cheeks, but there was also irritation there. Julie had to hold in her gleeful laugh. She had never seen R look irritated. He looked like he might punch M for interrupting them, and for some reason, that just made Julie shiver in delight a tiny bit.

"Saw... the General... you should put on... a shirt," M's wheezing chuckle made them both blush darker.

"Right. Come on, R, you better put your shirt on before my dad walks in on us too," Julie muttered, slipping off his lap reluctantly. R reached for his shirt and winced, grateful when Julie helped him once again.

"I am... happy for you..." M smiled at R and Julie both.

"Thanks," R returned the smile. "What's new?" he asked with a raised brow. "Why did you come... here?" he added.

"Came to... check on you..." M shrugged. "Missed your... company..." he added.

"Sorry," R nodded. "I'll try to visit more... often, okay?" R promised.

"Others are... healing well..." M grinned happily.

"That's good," R returned. "We'll help them soon. I'm still... too weak right now," R fidgeted in his seat on Julie bed in frustration.

"Understand..." M nodded.

"How are you doing, ...M?" Julie queried. She hadn't forgotten that he had been one of the zombies that tried to kill her, and even had insisted R eat her... but she realized she couldn't hold a grudge like that, especially now that he was also one of the first to start to change.

"Mm-Much better, thanks. I'm healing too..." M answered. "Well. I should return... to the rest..." he nodded to them and then left. He nearly bumping into John on his way out and nodded to him. John paused and regarded the other 'man' but said nothing, just watched him go. R and Julie had returned their attention to each other so had not noticed when John walked into the room.

John stood for a moment and his eyes narrowed. He cleared his throat and the kids turned to look over at him, jumping, their eyes widening a fraction at seeing him, and he had to wonder what it was they were doing. Taking no chances, he glared directly at the young man in front of him, who held his little girl's hand. "Listen here, I don't like this. I don't approve. But I love my daughter and her happiness means everything to me. If that happiness comes from being with _you,_ then ...I'll allow it." There was silence for a moment.

"Th... Thank you, sir," R finally responded softly.

John pointed a finger in R's face, his glare hardening. "But so help me God, if you harm one hair on her head, I swear to every deity out there ignoring us, I will hunt you down and blow you fucking head apart myself, alive or not," he growled.

"Dad!" Julie yelled in exasperation, appalled by her father's hostility.

"It will never happen, sir... _Never_," R insisted, his own eyes hardening. John's gaze narrowed for a moment, studying the determined "reborn" in front of him, and finally pulled back and nodded in satisfaction.

"Good. Get cleaned up, you can stay for dinner if you like," John invited roughly before disappearing from the room again. When he left, they both sighed in relief and smiled at each other.

"Come on, I'll show you to the bathroom," Julie stood and tugged on R's hand, leading him to said restroom.

Dinner was mostly deathly silent, the only thing really heard with the scrapes and clangs of silverware on plates and cups being lifted and then set back down on the hard wood table. "So... how was your day, dad?" Julie asked, wanting to desperately break the incredibly awkward silence.

"It was fine," John answered simply, not looking up at her from his plate.

"Ah..." Julie nodded slowly and looked back down at her chicken and baked potato. It was fortunate that chickens were easy to breed and potatoes practically cultivated themselves. If there was one thing they had more or less enough of, it was potatoes. Julie looked over at R and noticed he hadn't really touched his plate. "You okay there, R?"

"Yes," R nodded. It was only then that John looked up and regarded R for a moment.

"I'm sorry I couldn't find appropriate cuisine for you," the older man said darkly.

"What do you mean?" R questioned with a confused look.

"There isn't a lot of spare brains, arms or legs lying around for you to eat," John answered gruffly.

Julie shot up from her seat and glared daggers at her father. "DAD! That was totally uncalled for!" She yelled at him. "He's not a-"

"I haven't eaten another person... since I met Julie, two weeks ago," R interrupted, looking John straight in the eyes.

John paused and regarded the young man again. "Is that... how long since you've gone from eating at all?" John frowned thoughtfully.

"Yes," R nodded.

Julie felt herself slide back into her seat and stare at R. "You haven't eaten at all since then?"

"I haven't been hungry," he shrugged. "The thought of meat doesn't... appeal to me anymore," he shook his head. "Actually, the thought of... eating at all... doesn't appeal to me..." he sighed. "Doctor Martinez said I... really need to start eating soon... or I'll just die again, but just... the idea, brings too many... bad memories. I don't feel like I have the right... to eat anymore..." he trailed off, staring at the tablecloth.

"Oh, R..." Julie felt her eyes watering at the sadness of what he had just admitted. She hadn't even noticed that this was the most she had ever heard him speak before.

"I'm sorry," John's voice was very soft and troubled as he spoke. "I..." he didn't know how to put his regret into words.

"It's okay. I understand. I know you don't... trust me yet. I know what I was... I know I don't... deserve your forgiveness... but I hope one day, I'll earn it," he finished. The rest of the meal was silent again, but this time it was a contemplative silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts. When the meal was over, John stood and helped the kids clear the table. Julie was surprised he was still there and questioned him.

"I found R a place to stay," John mentioned.

"Really?" Julie was surprised. She hadn't expected her father to be so quick about getting R a place to belong in here.

"Yes. Come, I'll take you there," he nodded to R, and led them out. "This is it," John said as they stopped before a tall, old apartment complex. It was one of the only parts of the city that had been left intact and had become part of the wall. The back part of the building's windows had been sealed with cement bricks, blocking off access from monsters and looters alike. "Your apartment belonged to someone we lost last month," John explained. "Just thought you'd like to know the sacrifice he's made for you," he finished gruffly.

Julie was about to protest the rude comment again but R spoke before she could. "I do. If he has a grave, I'll... thank him personally," R answered.

John nodded and showed them in, heading up the stairs. "Your apartment is on the second floor, overlooking part of the city," he explained, and dug into his pockets for the key. He opened the door and led them in. The room was modestly furnished, but it seemed every personal touch it might have had in the past, was cleared long ago. It only had an old, moth-eaten couch with old stains, a cot and a rickety desk in one room. There was a small bathroom with no curtains in the shower, and it had a very dirty kitchen with a folding table and a folding chair.

"Ugh," Julie scrunched up her nose. "Smells awful in here! And the kitchen looks horrible," she shook her head.

"Well I'm sorry I couldn't find an IKEA or Home Depot around here to fix the place up to your liking, princess," John scowled, even though a part of him was slightly amused by his daughter's girliness in the dark world they lived in.

"It's perfect," R butted in with an honest smile to the elder male. "I appreciate it... Thank you."

John simply nodded in response, handing R the keys. "There's a blanket in the closet there, and there should be a pillow somewhere in that room too. Good night," he bid him good bye. Julie and R shared a smile before John all but dragged Julie out. Once they were gone, R closed the door and went over to his window. From his vantage point he could see them walking down the street, he felt himself smile when Julie looked back toward the building. R sighed wearily and went over to his new bed. He found the old blanket in the closet, as well as the pillow and placed them on the bed. Tentatively, he sat on it, hearing it creak loudly underneath him. He laid back and placed his folded hands over his stomach. One of these days, he would have to go back to the airport and bring some of his stuff he had collected over here. Maybe he and Julie could sit here and listen to good ol' Frank or Dean. That thought in mind, R felt his eyes slide shut and sleep overtake him.

_TBC..._

* * *

**A/N: **I originally thought this would be a short chapter lol! I guess my material was more solid than I thought! Aww, poor R is going through a tough time :( I wanted to go into his psyche in this chapter.

Shout-Outs:

**lovelyloupus:** I'm glad you like it, and yes, I like to do things a bit more gradual than most lol.

**Aki Yuhi:** Actually, while yes I plan to base this story mostly on the movie, I'm also adding a few pieces here and there from the novel. Don't worry though, if you haven't read it, it shouldn't effect the story. Those who HAVE read it though, I assume they won't mind either lol I wanted to flesh out the story a bit more, and I thought the movie was lacking. There was no reason in my opinion that they couldn't add the missing content from the book. It would have strengthened the movie I think. So what if the movie would have been two hours longer? Lol. God knows I'm still going to buy it as soon as it's released though lol.

**katy:** Thank you! I'm glad you think so! I wanted to match Marion's brilliant vision and I was worried I'd be completely lacking in that department.

**Rue Bladesinger:** I always thought the meat of a story is detail and the heart is realism, at least when the story called for it. Thank you! Glad you like it!

**Fang-delight:** Aww, thank you! If you like it so far, I'm sure you'll continue to be pleased XD

**cookiemonster5:** I agree lol, thanks!

**OmatikayaClan:** I think emotion and details are the main ingredients in any good story. Thanks!

**Tangledgirl:** I'm glad you think so, thanks a bunch!


	4. Chapter 4

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

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John Grigio was having a typical morning that day. He had just settled down in his office to read reports, when a group of his soldiers, led by Scott Kimberly, a man who had lost a son the day John had thought he lost his daughter entered the room. He had felt badly for this man for a while, as much as he did for anyone that lost a loved one. But lately the man had changed, and not in the good way that the zombies were. "What is it, Scott?" John questioned, glancing at the other men.

"We hear you're planning on tearing down the wall. Is that true?" Scott demanded angrily.

"Where did you-" John was very rudely cut off.

"You can't do that, Grigio! Don't you see that those fucking monsters you keep letting in each day are not getting better? You told us this yourself! They are and always will be monsters! You don't just stop being DEAD!" Scott yelled. He pulled back slightly when John shot up from his desk and glared at him.

"I was wrong!" His booming voice cut through the room, silencing them. "They _are _healing. They probably weren't even completely dead in the first place. We're still figuring that out. They can help us. They have already started to help us. There are good people who lost loved ones getting a chance to have their families again. Don't _you _see? There is finally some fucking good coming out of this damn world! So don't you come in here and try to hold on to a dead past!" John yelled. He was furious, and it was probably because of it that none of the other men argued. He didn't know why he was so angry. Maybe he recognized himself in them, maybe he didn't like the close-mindedness that they reminded him of within himself. Since he met 'R', he had begun to question his own beliefs, begun to believe in what the boy and his daughter told him. He began to believe his own eyes. It really was miraculous. If they couldn't see it, he pitied them.

"This isn't the end of this discussion, General," Scott growled, ushering his men out.

"You better hope it is," John snapped back, not batting an eye when Scott slammed the door shut. He sighed and sat back down. Those men would certainly be trouble in the future.

Elsewhere, R wasn't fairing so well either. And it had been such a promising week for him too! He had begun his daily rehabilitation sessions. R's muscles had finally started to respond to his commands like he wanted them to, immediate and accurately, fresh new electricity roping around the reformed but severely underdeveloped flesh of his limbs. But suddenly things started to go downhill that day. He was walking with Nora and Julie in one of the fields, listening to them talk about how once they dealt with all the Boneys, they could probably expand their crops out, make enough food for all of them... especially since more and more zombies seemed to be healing so quickly. R would have commented, if he hadn't been overtaken with unwanted sensations. It hadn't even been that much pain at first, a light cramp in his legs, a spasm in his shoulder, but it got worse.

He hadn't really expected his rebirth to be as easy as it first appeared. As his body began to heal at an alarming rate, unbearably painful cramps began to seize his legs and arms, and even at times his organs, his body still rejected normal human food, causing him to evacuate everything he ate regularly, forcing him to take nutrients his newly developing body desperately needed though Carbtein or an IV, and most recently, his whole body would convulse as organs and muscles began to spark back to life. Pain was something he hadn't felt in a very long time, to feel it again after so long, and so strongly was both a novelty, a wondrous experience, and a horrible one at the same time. One bright spot in all of it was the consistent support of Julie by his side.

Julie and Nora rushed R back to the clinic, where most of the staff where beginning to become familiar with him.

Julie watched helplessly as R's body convulsed on the cot, silent tears running down his cheeks. This was the most pain she had ever seen him in. Doctor Martinez was at a loss at what was wrong this time. He had begun to fill out, his muscles had begun to develop nicely, his skin even looked healthier each day. To have such a relapse like this, she didn't know why it was happening, but she would find out even if it killed her. She had become fond of the boy and didn't like to see him suffering as much as anyone. After a moment, Julie breathed a sigh of relief as R stilled once more. "Are you okay?" She asked tentatively.

"...Hurts..." R responded weakly, looking up at her from his spot.

"Can I... do anything?" She asked, feeling hopelessly lost. She wanted so much to ease his pain, despite his previous enthusiasm for it, but there really wasn't anything that could be done. His pain broke her heart, it was so unfair! He had died! And then as soon as he experienced rebirth, the first thing he felt was so much pain. Hadn't he suffered enough?

R thought for a moment while Julie was inwardly cursing the world. He shook his head slightly. "Stay..." he answered simply.

"I will, I promise" she whispered, reaching over to run her fingers through his messy hair before leaning in to kiss his damp forehead, not caring if Nora was there to see.

Nora watched her friends sadly. She had come to call R a friend these past few days, and hated seeing him in the state he was in too. "Get better soon, R," Nora said beside them. "I'm going to go see about getting M to help me get some of your stuff into your apartment. Would you like that?" she asked, talking to him as if he were a sick child who needed comfort.

"I would..." R smiled gratefully. Nora nodded and left them alone. Something about 'M' reminded her of someone years ago. At first she was a bit startled by him when she met him hanging around R one day. But he seemed so nice that her fear had quickly left her. She kind of liked him now. She was sure M would be happy to help.

When doctor Martinez walked back into the room she was holding a chart. "I was recently informed of your new living arrangements. I'm happy the General got you somewhere to stay, R, but at the moment, I don't believe climbing up a flight of stairs is the best thing for you. In the future, when your leg muscles have developed a bit more, it will be beneficial for your strength, but right now, I'm going to have to ask you to stay here. Don't worry, we won't charge you," Martinez winked and smiled warmly.

"Doctor-" Julie began.

"I know, Ms. Grigio, I know, but I honestly can't tell you what's wrong with your friend," the older woman shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry. This is another reason we want to keep him here, monitor him, see what gets better first, work from there," she shrugged lamely. "I'm afraid it's the best we can do right now," she sighed.

Julie nodded slowly, watching the doctor leave, and slid onto the seat next to R's bed. She felt R take her hand and glanced down at him. He still looked feverish, but he was sporting a weak smile. "Don't worry... I'm fine!" He insisted. Julie shook her head at his optimism and squeezed his hand in response.

Susan Martinez looked over her reports of her patient that night and frowned in confusion. After blood tests, urine tests, nutrition tests, a heart exam and another muscle to fat test, it just didn't seem like anything was wrong! Oh how she wished General Grigio would give the okay to salvage proper equipment from a hospital! But then she noticed something, his body's natural electrical currents were at a much higher rate than normal, off the charts in fact. Could that be what was stimulating his body to heal so quickly? Was the energy really natural, or was it something else? Whatever it was, it was probably what was causing the cramps and seizures. If that were the case, why suddenly spark up like that? Was it a last push for his body to heal? Or was it his body rejecting the energy? She hoped to God it was the former.

It was a particularly hellish morning the next day, when Julie woke up to find R shivering and groaning. At first panic surged through her, fearing that he had regressed back into a zombie, but felt immense relief and a new kind of worry when she realized it was a pain induced fever that wracked his body instead. It wasn't long after that a nurse walked in to check his vitals. Julie explained everything to her and glanced at R as he stirred in his fitful sleep. "Can't you give him anything?" Julie asked at the nurse.

"I'm sorry, we just can't risk introducing chemicals like that into his system yet. We don't know what it'll do to him and we don't even know if it'll do anything anyway," the nurse explained. Julie bit cheek to stop herself from telling the nurse off and glanced again at R's fetal position. From the look on his face it was clearly not fun for him anymore. Julie scoffed as the nurse left.

"It's okay..." R insisted again, much like he did the night before, seeing the look in her eyes. "Pain means that I'm... alive," he smiled weakly, the feverish sweat making his dark hair cling to his skin. He looked so awful she was afraid he might be turning into a zombie again. The steady sound of the heart monitor calmed her, but slightly.

"You're really burning up," Julie sighed, trying not to find pleasure in the fact that his body was generating so much living heat. It unfortunately reminded her of a few days ago, when everything seemed like it was going to be okay and they were having a very nice moment... Julie shook the thoughts from her head and scolded herself. This was no time to get worked up.

Another day like this would be spent with Julie only leaving R's side to spend a bit of time with her dad, eat, and sleep, though she would rather nap by R's bedside than leave to go home. At least as the days passed he seemed to be getting marginally better. It wasn't until the next day that relief would finally come.

The next morning Julie awoke with a start to find R's eyes, clear and focused, on her. "Good morning," He smiled widely.

"Hey! You're better!" Julie smiled back sleepily. She had fallen asleep with her head resting on the side of his bed, her body bent awkwardly. As she straightened, she winced in pain as her body protested. She stretched and blushed when she realized R had been following her every movement. She tugged her shirt down and brushed a hand through her hair. "How do you feel?" she asked him tentatively, hoping he didn't mention pain. When he suddenly sat up and grinned at her, she knew everything would be okay again. Hopefully this wouldn't happen again, she hoped she wasn't jinxing it.

"I feel much better..!" R responded and went to get out of his cot.

"Whoa, whoa! I don't think it's such a good idea to get up yet!" Julie protested half-heartedly, but didn't make a move to stop him from standing. R simply smiled and took her hand. "R?"

"Thank you," he said simply, then leaned in and kissed her on the cheek softly. When he pulled back Julie shook her head and tapped her bottom lip. R grinned and leaned in again. Julie wanted so badly to reach for him and wrap her arms around him, hold him tight as they kissed, but she was still so worried that it would cause him pain. When they pulled away again, they did not move too far and simply searched each others eyes, both of them seeking something, though neither knowing what the other wanted quite yet.

This was how Susan Martinez found them. She stood and watched a moment as Julie reached for him and pulled the boy close. She seemed very hesitant to hold him, as though she feared he would break with the lightest touch. R didn't seem to agree, however, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. Martinez could see Julie melting in his arms. She smiled at the loving embrace, clearly those two kids were not just simply friends. "It's nice to see you both awake," she decided to speak up. She didn't want to ruin the moment for them, but she really needed to check on her patient.

"Doctor Martinez," Julie gasped in surprise and made to pull away, blushing slightly when R made no move to let her go.

"Good morning Ms. Grigio. Mr. R," Martinez greeted cheerfully as she walked further into her patient's 'room'. She had been surprised to find him standing there, but then, maybe she shouldn't have been. His was a very unique case, he had come back to life and was healing at a rate much faster than normal humans. Seeing him up and about after suffering so much pain... somehow, that didn't seem all that strange for him. Maybe her earlier theory was right? Maybe this was the last time that strange energy would overtake him like that? One could only hope so. R turned his smile to the doctor and lifted a brow. "How do you feel today?" Martinez asked curiously, pleased to find that his legs no longer shook from the effort to keep him standing.

"Much better," R responded much smoother than before.

"Well I'm glad to hear it!" Martinez smiled widely.

"Is he free to go?" Julie asked eagerly. Martinez could see how antsy the young woman was, she just hoped the girl would have a bit more sense than to have him running around or doing _other _things before the boy was ready. She knew Julie was smart and capable, but the girl's unbridaled energy and enthusiasm to be with and spend time with the boy was very obvious.

"I need to run just a few more tests, but if everything checks out, I don't see why not," the doctor smiled at her, then turned to R. "I do expect you to stay here just a few more days though, R," Martinez told him. "We just want to make sure there are no more complications. Besides, I expect to see you around here for your rehab sessions again anyway," she smiled, noticing that R didn't complain like she expected a young man in his position to.

"I'll be here," R nodded in understanding.

"Good! Follow me then, and we'll get this check up out of the way," Martinez led him to the examining table. While most of the simple tests were done right there on his cot, some tests, such as reflex and heart exams, required him to be in the main room of the infirmary. By the looks he was sending back to Julie as they walked, Martinez could tell the young man was just as eager to spend time with her. Martinez sighed inwardly, somehow, she just knew this was not the last time she'd see R in here for medical treatment. Clearly the youth of today were too eager to get themselves into trouble.

Apocalypse or not.

_TBC..._

* * *

**A/N: **Don't worry, I don't plan on R spending every chapter in the infirmary lol.

Shout-Outs:

**The Once and Future Thing:** Mmmmmaaaaybe... Lol.

**Tangledgirl:** Glad you like it! Yeah I liked that chapter a lot too, it had a little bit of everything. :D

**Surely Sherlocked**: ...So you like it then? LOL

**4MeJasper:** Are you trying to tell me something? Go on, lol how I can correct mistakes if you're so mysterious about 'em! I imagined he might have still been in shock after waking up, so it would have taken him a little bit to experience the pain. Also, I figured there were so many people dying all the time that there had to be a vacant spot somewhere, you know? Should I have elaborated?


	5. Chapter 5

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

* * *

"Please?" R looked up at his doctor with as much hope and pleading as he could muster, even though different facial expressions were still just a little challenging to master. It seemed to be working though, he could see Martinez hesitating, clearly swayed by his pleading eyes.

"R, you know your sessions are important. You can't just skip them..." Martinez argued.

"I know. I'm grateful to you for all if it, ...but I promised M? Besides, I can exercise just as... well on my own," R begged. This was a first for him. He didn't remember a time when he had to ask for permission for anything, not even Boneys when they still dictated what a zombie could or couldn't do, eat, things like that. Not that most zombies were too eager to think for themselves in the first place.

"Hmm... well, _alright_," Martinez sighed in defeat. This was why she didn't have any children, besides the whole apocalypse thing, they would probably always get their way and end up being spoiled rotten. "But only because you're so charming," Martinez winked at him, chuckling softly at his embarrassed blush. "Go on, I'll see you later," she gestured for him to run along. R grinned at her and got up from the examining table. For a young man who had only recently been a zombie, he really was charming. Martinez shook her head in wonder of it all. She decided it wouldn't hurt, besides, he seemed to be doing much better, since the incident a few days ago. It didn't _seem_ like it would happen again... but then, that had come up pretty suddenly.

R made his way to the far gate, where it lead to the side of the baseball field. He could have just slipped out the way he knew how without anyone noticing, but he decided to do it the right way. He wanted to earn people's trust anyway. As he approached the gate, he was met by a tall black man, Kevin, who nodded to him as he approached. "Where you headed, R?" Kevin asked carefully. The older man was one of the few who truly accepted R so far. There were some, but most kept it to themselves at the moment. It was all still too new, after all.

"I was hoping to leave and meet... up with M, to start trying to... teach the others to change," R explained.

"You sure they really are?" Kevin frowned in concern.

"Yes. I am not the only one... to change. Rebirth, is spreading like... a disease, among the unliving," R smiled.

Kevin smiled back, a light of hope sparking in his eyes then. "That's good to hear. Sure, go on through, see you later man," Kevin nodded to him and stepped aside, letting the former zombie through.

As R made his way through the city, stepping over bricks, tires, broken pieces of a world long passed, he noticed how much smoother his walk was, than it had been before. He finally moved like one of the living again. He no longer slumped – at east that is when he wasn't done with one of his rehabilitation sessions – and he no longer dragged his feet. His legs propelled him smoothly and his back was straight. Now if only he didn't get so tired so quickly... Fortunately though, at least according to Martinez, the more he trained himself, the less often he'd get tired. It was something to look forward to.

R would love to go on runs with Julie and Nora, knew that they took them often, keeping in shape, but couldn't exactly keep up yet. With how quickly he was healing, though, he imagined it wouldn't be such a long wait until he could. He had to hand it to whatever it was that brought him back to life, it was doing a superb job at restoring him quickly!

In no time at all, after a brief stop to rest, R made it to the old office building some blocks away from the stadium city where the recovering former zombies where temporarily staying. M greeted him and slapped him on the back comradely. "Good to see you... again," M grinned.

"You too," R nodded. "So what's new?"

"Whoa there... slow down, hot... shot..." The laugh that came out of M sounded a lot more natural now. "Talk a little... slower, speedy!" M smiled. "You've really... healed well!" R could see a sort of pride in his friend's face and felt himself blush bashfully.

"Thanks..." R shrugged, kicking his feet.

"Such a... teenager," M shook his head and chuckled.

R shook his head tolerantly, a habit he had picked up from Julie. He wasn't exactly a teenager, though he really had no idea how old he was. He didn't _feel _like a teenager though... maybe just a bit older? But really, who knew? After a few moments of silence, R noticed that M had been staring. "...What?" R questioned, stopping them. M turned and regarded the young man a moment. While it had never been strange for zombies to stare at each other for long periods of time, M was no longer a zombie. The look he was giving him was pensive, thoughtful.

"Being with Julie... is doing you good..." M smiled.

"I agree," R grinned back. "So, how are _you _doing?" he questioned.

"Doing as well as... can be," M shrugged.

"Are you feeling yet?" R asked curiously. It was only a week after R's own revival that M experienced his rebirth, though his was a lot more gradual than R's, probably because he didn't have a beautiful woman in his life to inspire his body back to life.

"Yes. Pain mostly," M shook his head at the sympathetic look in his young friend's eyes. "Don't worry, it's... fine," he assured him.

"You should go see doctor Martinez... She might be able to... help you," R suggested.

"Nah, that's okay. I know the... doctors haven't been... able to do anything... for you, anyway," M shook his head. "I can deal with it."

"Your muscles need to... heal with help too though..." R frowned in concern.

"I saw what... your doctor did... for you. I can walk... and exer...cise on my... own," the older man shrugged. If M was anything, he was as stubborn as a mule. Or more. R didn't say anymore, just nodded in acceptance and let the older man lead him to the others to see how they were doing.

Meanwhile, Julie and Nora walked the streets inside stadium city. It was a crisp, clear day and the sky just seemed a tiny bit bluer that day. Funny how a singular moment in time, could completely change someone's perspectives on life. "That's a pretty seriously thoughtful look on your face there, Jules. You must be having a nice thought... I bet I know why!" Nora said in a sing-song tone. "So while I'm on the subject, I haven't had the chance to check up on him lately. How's your zombie boyfriend doing?" Nora asked playfully.

"You _know _he's _not_ a zombie anymore, Nora," Julie rolled her eyes.

"But he _is _your boyfriend, right?" The older woman insisted with a grin.

"...I guess? We haven't actually talked about it," Julie shrugged. "He's doing well, actually, much better now. He's no longer in so much pain, and doesn't get so out of breath on walks anymore. It's amazing how quickly he's healing, and a relief," she explained with a fond smile.

"Hold on, what do you mean you haven't talked about it?" Nora raised a brow.

"It's never come up?" Julie shrugged. She had certainly been doing a lot of that lately, shrugging all the time. R was a bad influence on her!

"It's never– _Julie_, have you and him even kissed yet?" Nora suddenly asked incredulously, stopping them in their tracks. How could they spend so much time together and seriously not start a relationship? Oh sure, he was the guy that ate her previous boyfriend, but isn't that kind of how it worked in nature sometimes too? Survival of the fittest? Putting that particular nugget of ridiculous comparative trivia aside, Nora was sure she had not been the only one to notice how... well, how _hot_ the boy was, even when he was still sorta zombie-like. No way she didn't hit that!

"..." Julie glanced over at her friend with a mysterious smile and continued to walk. "Nora, you know I don't kiss and tell," she almost giggled. That would have been too girly though, there was no room for girly in a post apocalyptic world! At least, not yet.

"That is such a lie!" Nora snickered. "Come on, tell me, _tell me!_" Nora begged. "Come on, if I can't have a sex life, I want to at least live vicariously through you," Nora laughed at Julie's disturbed expression.

"Really, Nora, you're too much sometimes! It's not even like that! He barely knows how to kiss..." Julie trailed off. Well if that wasn't a lie she didn't know what was. He was, in fact, a _very _good kisser.

"Why do I not believe you?" Nora asked, seeing the blush clearly on her young friend's cheeks. It was obvious the girl wasn't being completely truthful. She hadn't seen Julie blush this much since she had teasingly asked the younger girl how _being with _Perry had been for her the first time they spent the night together. And apparently they hadn't even done much but kiss a few times! If it was this bad for her now, oh how fun it would be when they actually got anywhere! Julie was honestly too much fun to tease sometimes.

"Okay, so yes, we've kissed and... he's, well..." Julie sighed inwardly, wishing she could stop all the girly blushing. "He's a pretty _damn good_ kisser actually," she admitted.

"Hah, I believe it! For how much you've been blushing lately, he's had to have been doing _something _right!" Nora grinned.

"Yeah well, kissing is _all _we've been doing. He's a perfect gentleman," Julie shook her head and grinned.

"Or maybe he's a gentleman now until he remember how to act like a real guy, then you'll have to worry about keeping his hands off you," Nora chuckled when Julie sighed in exasperation. "You're too easy to pick on, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know..." Julie rolled her eyes up to the sky, as if asking God to give her a little break and some more patience. A heated argument attracted the girl's attention. They gave each other questioning looks before deciding to take a closer look, walking over to the group of men in the streets.

"No, you asshole! You don't tell me what's good for me! Those zombie-freaks should go back to whatever sewer they crawled out of!" One man snapped at another.

"What are you saying? Your brother is one of those 'zombie-freaks', dude! Don't you want to see him?" Another man reminded him.

"My brother is dead! And so is your wife! So fuck off! They're better off killed off and soon somebody should do just that!"

At this point, Julie and Nora decided to intervene before things got even more ugly. "Hey! Hold on!" Julie cut in, walking over to the men. It was fortunate people respected her father so much, so no one, at least no one in that city, dared lay a finger on her or else she might have been pushed aside and told to mind her own business.

"Mind your own business!" The angry man growled. Well, there went _that _theory.

"You listen here, jackass!" Julie began, her anger riled. "This is the world we live in now. Zombies are healing, people are learning to live again, and loved ones are being reunited. It's all anyone's ever hoped for. If you can't see that, you're a fucking moron!" She snarled. Most men respected _her _almost as much as her father most of the time, at least, they did when she was around. Julie never really much cared about what people said about her behind her back though. This guy, though, seemed to be a lot more thick-headed than most and continued to glare at her.

"I think you're the blind one here, sweetheart," Scott Kimberley pushed men aside as he walked over to them. "Those damn corpses took everything from us. They're not changing! They've just found some way to hide what they really are. They're just waiting until we put our hand out to them, so then they can snap and bite down on them like the mindless dead monsters they are! You're the blind idiot here, girly," Scott glared.

"Why you motherf-"

"Okay! Come on Jules, let's go," Nora said.

"But-"

"Nope, we've done everything we can here. Time to go, come on!" Nora literally took Julie by the shoulders and pulled her away from the group, glaring over at Scott's smug face.

"What an asshole!" Julie spat as they continued their walk.

"Agreed," Nora nodded. "It's a reality we have to live with too, some people just won't accept what's going on," she shrugged.

"Maybe if R-"

"No, I don't think that's a good idea," Nora interrupted. "Having R try to talk to them might just make it worse," she argued.

"Maybe you're right," Julie sighed wearily. "Come on, I want to see what dad has to say about this," Julie led her friend the central command of the city. They passed several soldiers who nodded at them in greeting. She might not have been an official soldier among them, but most of them knew she was also a capable hunter and warrior. She had held a rifle in her hands since she was ten, after all. Going passed the old humvees and trucks, she reached the center of the military operations and found her father leaning over a map, looking it over and talking to Rosso, her dad's second in command.

"Julie? Nora? What are you soldiers doing here?" Rosso asked teasingly, catching his superior's attention.

"Julie?" John questioned with a raised brow.

"Dad, we ran into a pretty ugly argument a bit ago," Julie began.

"Oh?" John turned to face her, giving her his attention. He knew arguments about what he was thinking of doing would crop up sooner or later. He just hoped people wouldn't get carried away.

"There were these group of men, Mr Grigio, talking about keeping the zombies away or something. I don't think they're ready to accept what's going on..." Nora explained.

"Dad, what's going on?" Julie frowned in question. "What were those guys talking about?"

"...Well, the thing is, Rossy here is thinking that it might be a good idea to let the zombies _in_..."

"If they're changing like you said they were, it could be beneficial to acclimate them," Rosso added.

"Let them in, dad? REALLY?" Julie's eyes popped in surprise. Wow, she had _not _been expecting him to agree with Rosso!

"I can't deny how much the idea still bothers me, but if close proximity to _you _changed R, and the zombies are already changing anyway, maybe some interaction with the living would do them good," John shrugged casually.

"That's amazing Mr. G! A complete one-eighty!" Nora grinned.

"Don't go spreading that around," John shifted uneasily, ignoring Rosso's knowing look.

"I'm really happy, dad," Julie smiled brightly at her father, lightening his heart.

"I'm... I'm happy that you are," John felt himself smiling back. Maybe things really would be alright? He could only hope so.

That evening, Julie found R on his cot, curtains open. There weren't a whole lot of people around anyway, and besides, he was just sitting there reading a book. Wait... reading? Walking closer Julie noticed he wasn't actually reading, he was _trying _to read, but by the now familiar look of frustration on his face, she could tell it wasn't going too well. "R," she greeted him with a smile as she walked over.

"Hey," R smiled as he looked up to her. He watched her close the curtains and walk over. She sat by his cot and glanced over to the book he held. "Romeo and Juliet," R answered her as she rose a brow at him questioningly. "Martinez said I might like it," R shrugged. "So far I can't really understand... anything, though it would help if... I could read it," he smiled sadly.

"Oh, R, don't worry, I'll be happy to help you learn how to read and write again," Julie smiled encouragingly.

"Thanks," R nodded, giving her a grateful smile.

"So how was your day?" They both asked at the same time, then laughed almost shyly. They told each other about their experiences of the day, both surprised by what the other had to say. R told Julie that more and more zombies began to show, some where still very zombie-like, though they no longer had the urge to eat flesh, but others were already experiencing rebirth and feeling lost and confused. It broke Julie's heart to realize how many _people_, real people there now where out there, but what she had to tell R made them both feel better. R was not happy about the ideals some people still had, though he didn't blame them, but he was ecstatic by how willing to change Julie's dad was.

"So," R looked up curiously when Julie stood up. She smiled and sat by him on the bed. "How did it feel to be among your former people?" she asked him softly.

"Strange," he sighed. "They looked at me differently... I'm sure some of them... recognized me, but not really... you know?" R struggled to explain.

"No, I don't, but I'll take your word for it," Julie answered gently.

"Also, they smelled..." he shook his head. "I'm so used to not smelling... zombies, and being able to smell living," he shrugged.

"And what do living smell like?" Julie asked, very curious. She had never asked him before, and could remember him covering her with his dead blood to mask her scent. Even then she felt off whenever he would lean in to breathe in her smell, even if she was a bit put off by it at the time.

"Well, I don't smell the same way I... did before," R began.

"That's for sure," Julie chuckled softly, unable to pick on him.

R shot her an amused look before continuing. "But I can remember what it... was like," he went on. "The dead didn't have a smell... but the living smelled like... well, almost as if a lavender bush was... struck by lighting. The living smelled sweet and alive, it's... hard to explain," he shrugged. "But you..." he trailed off, glancing over at her with darker eyes, making her heart speed up just a little more. "Your scent was the strongest of all, at least to me... You smell different now too... but still so nice..." he smiled at her almost bashfully and leaned in.

Julie couldn't stop the smile that spread over her cheeks if her life depended on it. She stayed still as R moved closer, taking in a deep breath. This was so reminiscent of the first time they 'met' that she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She had been understandably freaked out the first time he did this. But this time... this time it was way different. She felt the heat of his warm breath on her neck, his eyes steadily gazing into her own as he took in a breath, then smiled, and it was all she could do not to pounce. He was so close, so tempting. When he pulled back, Julie found her body moving on it's own accord.

Their lips met and this time neither of them were shy about it. It was slow and sensual, sending electricity scouring their bodies. As Julie melted into the kiss, she was happily surprised to find herself being gently pushed down onto the cot. She felt a delightful, tingling sensations start from her toes and run up her spine. She said it before and she'd say it again, the man learned _quick_! It almost felt as though they were lost in time, moving with the motions as their lips moved against one another, everything around them melting away. This was by far the best kiss yet.

The more comfortable R got with kissing her it seemed, the easier it was to lose himself, to forget that he had ever been a zombie. She was sure he didn't realize it himself, but he was becoming almost toxic to her. His hot breath on her cheek as he pulled away for a second _actually _made her feel a bit dizzy. Her eyes drifted down to his pink, sensual lips and bit her own, grinning as she looked up at him through her lashes. She could almost see a little bit of playfulness in his own eyes before he dove back down for another toe-curling kiss. The more they kissed, the more she wanted to kiss him, almost like an addiction, she couldn't seem to get enough of him.

Julie was very surprised and very pleased when she felt his normally idle hands find themselves on her. One hand lay on her waist, still, but the other hand somehow found itself on her leg as he moved closer, sensually trailing upward. How did he know to do that? Was it a basic instinct, a biological drive that made people touch each other? Or was it some hidden, lost past experience that resurfaced? Whatever it was, Julie wanted so badly to continue this magical moment, she had missed being with him like this, not having the opportunity to lately, but she knew this was not the best time or place. "R," Julie whispered, very reluctantly pushing him back, even as her own eyes followed his lips. "We should probably stop?" she said softly.

"Why?" R questioned innocently, honestly not thinking of a reason to do so. Julie felt herself smile fondly, he might have been remembering some things, but he still had a lot to remember about being amongst the living again. At least in more or less public places. By the way his body seemed to follow her as she pulled back, and how intently he was looking at her, Julie could tell that pretty soon it wouldn't be so easy to stop him. That thought alone made another shiver go up her spine and she bit her lip.

"...I just don't want to get... carried away, or have someone like your doctor come in here," she explained softly. R frowned a little, still not getting why that matters, but luckily, didn't press the subject and simply smiled and nodded, trusting her judgment. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? You should probably get some rest... Martinez told me earlier, when you were still out, that you skipped your rehab session. I bet tomorrow they're probably going to push you or something to make up for it," Julie laughed softly at his slightly worried expression. "Don't worry, you'll be fine," she pat him on his shoulder and then leaned in to give him one last chaste kiss. "Good night, R," she smiled.

"...'Night, Julie," R smiled back, his eyes following her as she left the tent, watching her hips sway as she walked. He sighed inwardly and lay back down on his cot, staring up at the ceiling once again. If pushing himself is what it really took to get him back to being independent, then that's what he would do.

_TBC..._

* * *

**A/N: **Oh yeah, I went there! I really packed in the cliché's in that last part, didn't I? Okay, so I know that I had said I wasn't going to curse, but unfortunately, that wouldn't have been realistic either, would it? I _do _promise that there won't be as much as there is in the book though lol, especially from Julie. Go ahead and call me silly, but I was listening to "Evening Surrender" by Chad Valley, while writing the last bit of this chapter lol. He's got some pretty decent music! If you're into that style of music, that is.

Shout-Outs:

**Guest:** Too lazy to log in or type a name? Lol j/k. I'm glad you're enjoying it! Don't expect two chapter updates per day all the time lol. This is always how I start out, I get really excited and post updates like crazy, until I cool down and post at a slower pace. But who knows, I might keep updating frequently!

**OmatikayaClan:** Oh don't worry, I don't plan to disappoint... by this chapter, you should already be able to tell that things will start progressing between them. R needs to get passed all his limitations first though, you know?

**Aki Yuhi:** I totally agree, that's why I added the conflict between him and "Scott" at the beginning of the chapter. Don't worry, I'll explain it a bit more later. Go see the movie, it's not _exactly_ like the book, some things were changed and a lot was missing, but it did stay _mostly _true to the novel. Some of the changes I actually liked better. And Nicholas Hoult makes an attractive zombie LOL... well, he makes an attractive anything really, he's a good looking guy in general.

**Fang-delight:** I'm glad you're enjoying it! How do you think I'm portraying him?

**jmor:** I love the book, but the problem I had with it is I had trouble picturing what R looked like. I'm glad they made a movie, Nicholas Hoult does a very good job at portraying him. Also, something about the book that was changed in the movie I actually liked more lol so yeah, while this has some nuggets of information from the book here and there, it's mostly based on the movie. I'm glad you like it!

**AhhMyLife:** Yeah, it's one of the reason why I decided to write this! I'm glad you like it!

**Weasleywarrior:** Yeah! I'm happy you caught that lol. I wanted their roles to switch back and forth in this story, to show how they leaned on each other.

**4MeJasper:** Ah, okay, my mistake! Yes, I wanted the story to be a bit darker and more complicated than the movie shows.


	6. Chapter 6

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

* * *

The next day found R in the wash area of the tent. He stood in front of the mirror, guided by a _very _patient Julie while she taught him to wash his hair over the large tub like sink that was accessible to all the patients, if there were any other than him that is. He had only showered by himself so far, he knew how to wash his hair, but didn't know how to do so over a sink. He didn't know why it was so necessary, he could wash it just as well in the shower, but Julie had insisted that it was one of those silly little things that don't seem necessary, but could 'save your hair' in a moment's need. Well, it didn't matter. If it made her happy for him to learn this, he'd do it. Julie had made a point not to lay a finger on him and talked him through it. Blinking soap out of his eye and scowled when Julie started laughing. "What's so funny?" he asked curiously.

"There's shampoo on your chin, you look like you have a goatee," she grinned. "Here," Julie reached forward and gently stroked his chin, removing the sud. Her hand didn't exactly leave though, and went to rest on his cheek a moment. She smiled affectionately at him.

"Thank you..." R murmured, unable to look away from her, even as his eye stung from the soap.

Julie noticed and grimaced sympathetically. "Um, right, uh- you should probably rinse your eye out. Rinse your hands, cup some water in them, and gently let it in your eye. Make sure there's no soap in your hands though," Julie instructed. When he was done washing his hair, Julie helped him towel dry it. "I assume you remember what we told you about showering, right? I mean, you've been doing it on your own these days so I don't... uh, need to show you, right?" Julie blushed. When R took a while to answer, her blush only darkened. She seemed to fidget a little where she stood.

"No, I know how," he finally said. It might have looked like he was thinking, or in Julie's case, make it look like he was teasing her, but what had really happened was something altogether new and different. R had never made concrete connections to some of the innuendos that sometimes slipped out of people, especially Nora, but today... it connected. His mind had wandered on its own, taking him to the memory of his first experience in the shower, when she had been so close by... but it was different, this time, he wasn't a zombie anymore, and... Julie was in there with him. When Julie spoke again, R blinked back to reality, fighting a blush. What was that?

"Oh, okay, good," Julie nodded, half relieved half oddly disappointed. It was fortunate that R at least knew how to brush his own teeth by now. He grabbed his toothbrush and the tube of toothpaste. He winced when he squeezed on the tube too hard, getting toothpaste on the mirror. That had been happening quite a bit lately. It seemed almost like he couldn't control his strength, it might have been due to the developing muscles in his arms, but wasn't it too soon for that? Then again, maybe it happened _because _his body was developing faster than what Martinez said was considered normal? Who knew really. He squeezed a little more gently the next time and put the tooth brush in his mouth.

Julie smiled and shook her head as she watched him brush his teeth. "Don't just move the brush up and down, move it in circles... you _are capable_ of that much dexterity now, aren't you?" she teased.

"_Yes_..." R grumbled with his mouth full of toothpaste, though couldn't stop a little smile from lifting his lips.

"Don't you get snappy with _me_, shrugger," Julie laughed. "I certainly hope you have more dexterity than that..." Julie muttered more to herself. Oh how Nora would be proud of where her dirty mind was taking her. That girl was a bad influence on her, she was picking up on too many dirty thoughts.

"Hmn?" R questioned curiously, not having caught what she had said.

"Oh, nothing!" Julie blushed. "Anyway, now you have minty fresh breath," she grinned.

"Yes," R's tone was surprisingly playful, the corner of his lips tilting up a bit.

"You gunna just stand there or kiss me? C'mere," Julie reached for him and R happily obliged. Once the morning ritual was complete, including the pleasantly minty kiss, the two set out on what was becoming a customary morning walk. "Think your up for jogging a little this morning? I told you yesterday that Martinez would probably be a little harder on you this time, it might be good to warm up a bit before," she suggested.

"Sure," R nodded and began to jog alongside her. Suddenly he tripped over himself and only managed to catch himself on his palms as he fell.

"R! Are you okay?" Julie jogged back to see what happened. "Another cramp?" she asked him worriedly.

"...No... I um, didn't tie my... shoes..." he answered in clear embarrassment. "Can you..?" R fidgeted, embarrassed for asking if she could show him. How he wished things like _this_, simple things, would just come back to him as easily as seemingly more complex things did.

"No problem," Julie smiled and knelt by him. "Watch what I do, okay?" When she finished showing him, they helped each other back up.

"Thank you for being patient... with me, Julie," R's voice was full of heartfelt emotion. Ever since he had begun to recover, had started living in stadium city, she had been right by his side, patiently explaining things to him and helping him remember things. If it weren't for her, he'd still be some dumb, mostly dead idiot zombie lumbering around. He was eternally grateful to her... and to Perry.

"R," Julie cut into R's increasingly morbid thoughts. "I know you're frustrated, but just think of it as having amnesia. I don't think you've ever really lost all this information, but it'll take time, okay?" She soothed him.

"You're probably... right," R nodded and smiled gratefully at her.

As they jogged, Julie couldn't help sneaking glances at him. The way his body moved was now so smooth, it was as though he had never been a zombie. She felt herself flush just a bit more than she already was with the light exercise, seeing his sweat stick his shirt to his body attractively. As they ran, R turned to look at her, having felt her eyes on him and smiled. Julie caught his gaze and returned the smile shyly. How was it this boy could make her heart race so wildly with just a look? When his lips stretched into a lazy, toothy grin, his eyes softening, she nearly tripped. _That _was new. Looking forward again, she firmly decided he was too distracting to look at while they jogged.

A little while later. R and Julie had finished a complete circuit around a pre-outlined course she and Nora had set up for their runs. Normally she and her friend would complete the circle four or five times, and mostly at a faster pace, but this was the first time R had been able to run it completely without stopping to rest. Even so, Julie pat his back as he bent over, bracing himself on his knees while he panted for breath. "It'll get easier, you'll see," she promised him. R nodded and straightened, turning to smile at her.

"I did it," he grinned.

"Yeah! I'm proud of you," Julie grinned back, playfully punching his shoulder lightly. R smiled and reached forward, pushing a strand of her damp hair from her cheek. They stood very close together, the proximity and heat of their bodies making it difficult to resist moving closer. So they didn't resist it. Julie had to crane her neck slightly as R bent down, his lips meeting her's with practiced ease. Normally Julie would have been hesitant to display any type of public affection with him, in fear of the consequences. Right now, though, she couldn't care less. Anyway, it was a short kiss, too short for their liking, but they really couldn't go around flaunting their affection so freely when people where still so divided in the city.

As they pulled away R noticed an odd look on Julie's face. "What?" he asked curiously.

"How is it that you have trouble doing the most simple, everyday things, but you kiss like a pro?" Julie questioned, grinning at the blush darkening his cheeks as she fought her own.

"I... don't know? Maybe I just have a very... good teacher?" R grinned back. "Actually, it might just be... instinct?" he supplied with a shrug. "Maybe I kissed before?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if you had, a good looking guy like you," Julie teased. Any other guy would have had their ego inflate with the compliment, but R wasn't like any other guy. She watched in amusement as R's face flushed and he smiled shyly. Clearly he wasn't aware of how attractive he was.

After the run, R and Julie met with Nora as they walked back to the clinic. The girls sat in the back, simply waiting and watching as R went through his usual rehab session. "Wow, look at that thing," Nora mentioned with a raised brow. Martinez had R all but strapped to an odd sort of cycling machine. It was basically the bottom half of a bicycle with bricks attached to the petals and held down with cement blocks. "Looks painful," Nora cringed, seeing the look of utter concentration on R's face.

"...Yeah," Julie agreed, though her gaze was too focused on the different array of emotions playing across R's face to really hear what her friend was saying. It wasn't like he didn't display emotions, he _did._ A lot sometimes. But it was rare for him to look so intense. It was both fascinating and, admittedly, surprisingly _hot_. Julie shook her head to clear it, blushing deeply. She really needed to get a grip. She had only lost Perry half a month ago and she already wanted to jump the bones of the next really attractive guy her eyes landed on. She felt so ashamed of herself.

But maybe she was being too hard on herself.

To be fair, Perry had become so distant from her the last couple years that she barely knew him anymore. He had still been kind to her, of course, but the love hadn't really been there anymore. Had it ever been? It had almost been like he had deliberately put her at arm's length. Maybe it had been for the best? If they had still been as close as they once where, she might not been able to accept his loss. She would have rejected and hated R completely. Julie felt her heart clench at the very idea that she could ever hate him. But how was she to know how she would have felt, if things hadn't gone the way they did. If they hadn't, the world would have still been the same horrible, dark and scary place. They wouldn't have experienced whatever it was they did. She wouldn't have helped him change, and all these amazing things that were now happening, wouldn't have happened to them. Wow, talk about a lot to take in.

"You okay, Jules? You look almost about as sick as R does right now..." Nora questioned.

"Huh? Ah- no, I'm fine, just thinking," Julie shrugged nonchalantly. Nora said no more so Julie turned her gaze back to R. So maybe they were 'meant' to be together? How was she to know? She knew that the things that had been happening were too big, too elaborate to just be chance. She had always believed in something bigger than everything, behind the scenes, pulling the strings. Most of the time she resented and cursed whatever that was, be it fate, God, or something else, but clearly something like this was too big to ignore. Maybe it was life's way of saying 'it's okay to find love again'. Julie sighed and rolled her eyes. Talk about introspective Wednesday! Turning her gaze back to R once again, she somehow felt a little bit better appraising him. Maybe she had needed that bit of self-diagnosis.

When R finished his session, Martinez pat him on the shoulder gently. "Good job, R, you really put your heart into it today," she smiled. "Your legs and lungs are taking a little longer to develop than your arms, so if you'd like, we don't have to work on them today. You can go with your friends," she told him.

"Are you sure?" R asked hopefully.

"Go on," Martinez smiled.

"Thank you!" R grinned back and wobbled a bit as he got up too quickly. His legs felt like... well, he wasn't sure what to compare it with. He couldn't remember what it was people compared it to. Whatever it was, it didn't feel very stable. He leaned against one of the posts that held the tent up for a moment, smiling at Julie and Nora as they walked over.

"I was thinking we could go to the Orchard?" Nora suggested.

"The Orchard?" R frowned in confusion.

"It's a place to get drinks. It's a bar I guess you can say, but without the alcohol," Julie explained with a shrug.

"Okay," R agreed. To him, _anything _to drink sounded great right about now.

Before they left, on the girl's insistence, R washed up a bit. "You're not dead anymore, so it'd be a good idea to not smell like death anymore too," Nora had joked.

The three made it to the bar and the girls smiled in amusement at the clearly relieved sigh that escaped the former zombie. The climb toward the city's only - though non alcoholic - pub, had been more work than R had anticipated. "Three grapefruits," Nora ordered, winking at the bartender. Once they had their drinks, they sat down. "So Jules," the older woman leaned in conspiratorially. "Find any of those vodka minis on your latest scavenger hunt?" she asked with a grin.

"Sorry," Julie shrugged, smiling apologetically.

"Aww, damn," Nora sighed. "Need another?" she asked R in amusement when she noticed his glass completely empty.

"Well..." R trailed off, glancing down at his sad, empty glass thoughtfully.

Nora didn't wait for him to answer. "Barkeep! Another please!" She yelled rudely, slamming her fist on the table dramatically. The bartender rolled his eyes but went over with a new glass, taking the old one. Clearly Nora's antics were well known throughout the city. Because it was still early afternoon, most people were still at work, so they were really the only ones there. R sat and listened mostly as Julie and Nora talked. It was nice to just sit and listen. He still very much loved words, loved listening to people speak and to the melodies of their voices. Julie's voice in particular was very pleasant to him.

A little while later, Nora excused herself for some target practice while R and Julie made their way to see how the other recovering former zombies were doing. As usual, Kevin let them pass unhindered, nodding to them as they walked by. On their way out, they spotted some zombies who still looked as dead as ever. They had paused, both living and seemingly dead staring each other down.

When one of the zombie's tentatively smiled at them, R and Julie relaxed. It became apparent that not every zombie healed at the same rate as others, but as the zombies stepped aside to let them pass, they knew they were on their way. As the two approached the familiar building housing M and the rest, Julie still felt rather uneasy around being so many 'people' that still looked a little dead, but R's presence and hand that held her's comforted her. At the end of the day she knew that he would always 'keep her safe'.

"R, Julie..." M greeted the couple. Behind him, a couple of other more human looking former dead followed. Clearly M had become some sort of reluctant leader for a lot of them. "Mm-my name is..."

"You remember your name?" Julie's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Yes..." M grinned. "Mm... Marcus," he answered proudly.

"That's great!" Julie laughed, happy for him.

"Yes," M nodded. "Do you remember... yours?" he asked R.

"No, but that's okay," R shrugged.

"I had more memories... today," M reported, looking a bit guilty.

"I'm happy for you," R shook his head, dismissing the pity his friend was showing him. He didn't need or want it, he was perfectly happy with the new memories he was making. R and M turned then to find Julie actually talking _with _and not just _to _a 'reborn' who M had thought couldn't speak. Or at least, hadn't gotten the ability to quite yet. The man was an old looking black man with sunken eyes, the man M had questioned if he had felt the change. So far he had not spoken at all, but it seemed Julie's presence didn't only effect R. Or maybe it really was just proximity to another fully living person. Maybe it was all the energy and life that seemed to radiate from her.

Whatever it was- "Julie is something... special," M commented.

"Yes she is," R grinned.

"Lover-boy," M chuckled. "R... there is something you... need to know," M said grimly, in the most serious tone R had ever heard from him. "We have seen Boneys... lurking in the shadows... near the stadium," he told him.

"We need to protect them, M," R frowned. "They are our people now... too," he told him.

"I agree," M nodded.

Later that evening, as promised, Julie spent time re-teaching R to read. Amazingly, and yet somehow not so strange either, a part of him seemed to already remember how to read. Letters popped into his head and if he had enough help, he could pronounce them more of less well. "Bu.. But sof... s-soft? W-Whaaat?" R looked over at Julie to see if he pronounced it right, she she nodded he continued. "L-L... Leeg-"

"Light," Julie corrected, trying desperately to keep from laughing at how absurdly long-winded his pronunciation of words were. But then, he couldn't help it, and besides, he was doing pretty well, all things considering.

"What light thrrr-throoo... through? Yon...der?" Another unsure glance.

"Right," Julie grinned, she couldn't believe she was actually teaching him to say this line.

"What light th-through yonder w-win- window... br-rreh-acks?" He frowned in confusion, that didn't sound right.

"What light through yonder window _breaks_," Julie corrected him with a grin.

"It... is? The.. eeeeah-st...east? And Ju-...Julie?" He blinked. "Juli-et," he grinned up at her, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "Juliet?" He repeated.

"Go on, R," Julie encouraged, eager to hear him read it all.

R nodded. "Is the...ss-uh- sun?"

"Yep, now read it all aloud, please," Julie grinned, leaning forward in anticipation.

"...But soft. What light through yonder window breaks... It is the east and _Julie_ is the sun," R finished with a wide grin. Julie felt a bubble of giggles escape her as she clapped and blushed in embarrassment. She had been doing that a lot around him lately. God, was she really turning into a real girl around him or what!

"_Very_ smooth. Nice job, _Romeo_," Julie snickered. "You should have said this to me when we were reunited the first time," she laughed. Of course, R didn't exactly understand what she meant, he didn't see the connection she made with her balcony, but he smiled anyway. "Anyway, I think you meant Juli-_et_," She smiled affectionately at him.

"No," R shook his head, catching her eye, his gaze softening as he looking over at her. "I meant what I said," he added slowly, leaning in. Julie felt herself tingle all over as his lips pressed against her's. Oh how she loved it when he was assertive. Julie grinned into the kiss, letting herself fall back onto his cot. She knew she should stop this, would feel mortified if anyone walked in on them. A huge tent in the middle of a city wasn't exactly private... at least R's curtains were drawn. That made her feel a _little _better. Julie gripped R's shoulders as he leaned into her, his body almost reacting to the situation out of it's own volition, trapping her... though it wasn't like she didn't really _really _like it. He surrounded her, encompassed her much smaller form, and she _loved _it.

Nora sighed tiredly but satisfied after a long day of studying and training. She made her way into the hospital tent, where she knew her friends would be, and stopped in her tracks the moment she pushed R's curtains back. She had come by to see if they wanted to hang out, she had _not _been prepared for what she found. Julie's back was pressed against R's bed and said boy was half-way on top of her, one of his hands bracing himself on his bed, the other cupping Julie's cheek as they kissed in a way that made it look almost like _foreplay_. "Good Lord," Nora muttered, feeling even _her _cheeks flushing. Her words, however, seemed to break the spell and her friends broke apart in an instant, gasping. For breath or in shock, Nora wasn't sure. Probably both.

"N-Nora!" Julie blushed darker than R's old hoodie. R sat up very slowly, helping Julie up with him.

"My God, Jules! I thought you were exaggerating the other day! Damn, R, you're going to make it look bad for the rest of the guys in this city!" Nora laughed. "Can I borrow him, Jules? I'll give him back in one piece, I promise! ...Well, mostly," she giggled.

"Nope, sorry, you can't have him," Julie shook her head, smiling at her friend's antics.

"..." R wondered if he'd ever be able to control the flow of his blood, so used to was he for it to be static in his veins. Now it flowed like wild, rushing rivers in his veins, going straight to his cheeks. He sighed inwardly, also wondering when he and Julie would ever have a moment together without being interrupted all the time. Now more than ever he wanted to just hurry up and heal faster, make good use of his apartment, earn a place among the people here. If he couldn't control his blood now, he at least wanted to take the reigns of his own life.

_TBC..._

* * *

**A/N: **I decided to go into Julie's head a little bit in this chapter. Hmm, yeah, it's cheesy, but I like listening to Chad Valley again while writing "romantic" scenes involving Julie and the former zombie we all know and love lol. I'm SO corny. This time it was "I want your love". Don't worry, the actual story will start _very _soon... like next chapter soon lol.

Shameless Romeo and Juliet plug! I know. Completely unnecessary, but SO funny.

Shout-Outs:

**OmatikayaClan:** And I love writing it! Lol. Thank you!

**Aki Yuhi:** Well actually, despite the similarities and my own little Romeo and Juliet cameo, I really don't want to make it mirror that story. First off, it's a tragedy, and I'm WAY too sappy to go near tragedies when I can help it. Also, it's already been done. I wanted my story to teeter on the edge between action/horror, as you'll see in the next chapter, and romance. I want to make readers feel a wide range of emotions.

**AhhMyLife:** Yep, I thought it would be boring if it was just pure romance. What type of post-apocalyptic world is that, anyway? What odd pain? Lol, R's pain makes plenty of sense.

**Girl In RandomLand:** Wahahaha! Your review made me laugh so hard! Don't worry, there's plenty of drama coming up.

**MaddiegreeN:** I will do so!

**jmor:** Yeah, I figured R would want to just focus on his future, not worry about his past, but that doesn't mean hidden aspects of it wouldn't influence him. Thanks! I aim to please!

**sassybutt32:** Happy you like it!

**Kuratu:** I'm so happy you think so! Thanks!

**weasleywarrior**: It's a seesaw type thing I imagined that I'm working on :D but it'll stabilize itself as the story progresses. Agreed, I don't see a lot of Julie/Nora interaction in the few stories on here, and I think while the movie had a few a very funny scenes with them, it could have used more. Then again, I personally think the movie was severely lacking in content in general!

**Jsweeti:** I'm happy you do, I like it too lol.

**4MeJasper:** I love your play-by-plays lol.


	7. Chapter 7

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

* * *

A long and challenging week had gone by since Nora had walked in on R and Julie kissing.

Since then, R had been pushing himself in his rehabilitation, even going as far as taking very basic breathing and even singing lessons - without Julie knowing of course, he was much too embarrassed to let her hear him - to exercise his lungs and voice. Former zombie Marcus had enlisted R and Julie in helping him reach out to the other former dead. Julie had joked that it was almost like an undead _un_hunger drive for the former zombies, but R and M just seemed to look at her oddly, so she stopped joking with a sigh. Julie and R didn't exactly know what they needed to be doing anyway, but it seemed by simply being there with them, treating them like human beings, they seemed to heal better. Other than that, R still had his rehabilitation sessions, though they had been going very well lately and he seemed to need it less this week than the previous.

Julie and Nora were still expected to preform their normal duties in the camp, including the few hours of school the General had insisted everyone have if they were lacking in something. That was one of the good things of John Grigio, if it was one thing he valued in this dark, though lately increasingly bright world, it was education. Julie felt fortunate to get out of a lot of it though, mostly because she had been home-schooled by her parents and hadn't missed much. Even so, that, coupled with another couple hours at work... all of it together made it a little difficult for Julie and R to spend a lot of time together.

And if that wasn't enough, they also had to deal with the fact that Marcus had not been hallucinating. There still _were _Boneys, alive – so to speak – and kicking, making it very difficult for scavengers and even the former zombies to get by. The Boneys had been particularly savage on the former dead. "Are you sure the General won't mind us doing... this?" R asked in concern, his eyes darting around them warily. He wasn't just worried about the obvious dangers of this trip though, he didn't want Julie to get in trouble, and he much preferred his head still attached to his shoulders. "He said it wouldn't be a good idea with so many... Boneys around."

"Relax, we'll be fine! We'll back before anyone misses us," Julie assured him. "A girl needs her products and I know dad wouldn't spare a minute for something he feels is so unnecessary," Julie scoffed. "This world may be dead, but that doesn't mean we can't indulge a little when opportunity presents itself!" She was arguing mostly to herself now. She was well aware how risky this was, what with the many sightings of Boneys, but they weren't going far and not for long either. Not to mention, this would be a perfect opportunity to spend some time with R, too. "And besides... you'll 'keep me safe', won't you?" Julie's eyes twinkled as she looked over to him.

"_Always_," R smiled adoringly.

After walking a few blocks away from the protective walls of the city, it became clear that something was off. While not seeing so many zombies around was beginning to become normal, what with M rounding them up and all, not seeing _any _movement at _all _was still a bit off. No birds, no wolves that wandered in searching for more food, and no dead. The eerie atmosphere kept Julie and R silent. Somewhere along the way, R had found an old baseball bat with blood stains on it, he took it. After a few more minutes of walking, they arrived at their destination. "This is it," Julie smiled, reading the sign that was aptly labeled "General Store" and led the way in, shotgun braced against her shoulder.

It was fortunate at the moment how still and silent everything was. It made rifling through things easier, even if the deathly silent air creeped Julie out. The store was a complete mess, fallen isles and scattered shelves all over. She had hoped this store held weapons and ammunition, but no such luck. Julie saw something that caught her eye, something important that she knew the 'hospital' was running out of. She tried to reach for a box but it was high up on the shelf. She jumped slightly when she felt R step very closer to her, almost up against her as he reached over her head and grabbed the little box with flower patterns. He seemed to be about to hand it to her, but at the last minute, he set it down and she felt his arms wrap around her. Julie smiled and leaned in against him.

"I missed you..." R muttered softly.

"Missed me? I haven't left your side all morning," Julie grinned.

"I know, but we haven't had time to... spend with each other lately," R answered, reading her own feelings about the situation it seemed. Julie turned in his arms and wrapped her arms around his middle, feeling the most safe when she was deep in his arms. Oh she knew she was more than capable of kicking ass, you don't mess with a chick in combat boots who also carried a shotgun. However, that didn't mean she didn't have her girly moments. She missed being held like this.

It had almost become second nature for them their lips to seek each other out now. Julie slid her hand from his neck to run her fingers through his smooth dark hair. As luck would have it though, just as R started to pull her closer, his hands starting to move just a little more than usual, an odd noise alerted them. "Wait, what was that?" Julie pulled away with a frown. R picked his head up and turned to look around, still keeping her close to him. They weren't stupid, they knew that any sudden and harsh noise like that couldn't have been made by a zombie, unless it was particularly ravenous. But the zombies were healing now, most who weren't alive quite yet had lost interest in flesh. So could it be..? "R?" Julie questioned, seeing the worry very clear in his eyes.

R said nothing, just let her go and crept slowly toward where the noise was heard. So far, neither of them could see anything, just a ruined store and ominous dust floating in the air. Julie raised her shotgun and followed, not seeing the dark figure that loomed behind her. When a Boney suddenly ran up to R from behind a shelf, Julie raised her weapon to blast it's head apart, but found herself being flung backwards. Julie hit the ground hard and saw more of them. She pulled herself back up to her feet and aimed her rifle again. "There's more of them!" She warned him.

"J-Julie!" R grit his teeth, fighting off a particularly strong Boney. Luckily, he managed to overpower it and ram it's head against the edge of another shelf, cracking it open. The Boney slumped to the floor, motionless. He was about to turn to help Julie when another Boney, who must have been crawling on one of the top shelves, fell on top of him.

There were two, maybe three of them in the room with them left. "_R_!" Julie screamed, her shotgun being torn from her hands. One of them smacked her hard across the face, sending her colliding with the floor, her shoulder hitting one of the collapsed isles painfully, and then it seemed to take it's time walking toward her, enjoying her terror as she desperately tried crawling away, trying to find anything nearby to use as a weapon. They were _toying _with her!

"Julie!" R yanked the Boney trying to claw at his face away and smashed it's head with his bat. The boney didn't seem to appreciate that and tore the bat from his grasp, snapping it in half and hissing angrily at him. The Boney latched onto R's arm and R pulled it away, gasping in pain as it scratched his arm. Fresh ruby red blood trickled down. The Boney sniffed and then hissed again, as if seeing him alive and bleeding just made it all the more pissed.

R crawled backwards, avoiding another swipe, and groped the floor for anything else to use. Luckily, his hand landed on a piece of wall from the building laying nearby, a brick. He took the brick and swung it as hard as he could. The Boney screeched as it was knocked back. R wasn't through with it yet, he got up and kicked the Boney back down, then brought the brick back down on the Boney's head again. It lay motionless too. He turned and again attempted to run over to her, but the other Boney in the room body-slammed into him, knocking him off his feet once again.

Julie kicked the Boney that was attempting to rip into her, kicking it in the jaw, hard, sending it flinging backwards. She went to get up, but the Boney was too close and managed to grab her leg. Julie jerked away, trying to kick it again. She managed to knock it back down, but not before it managed to dig it's claws into her leg, ripped along her calf as she pulled back, cutting jagged red ribbons, making her cry out in pain. The Boney looked at Julie's leg and then at the blood on it's nails, and it's already grinning grotesque visage seemed to widen, taking pleasure it her suffering. To her horror, it _licked _her blood off it's fingers_._ It grabbed her leg again and squeezed hard, making her scream again. Hearing Julie scream in pain made something in R, something from deep within, snap.

"_JULIE_!" R's vision glazed over with a hot red mist. This was a new feeling, an overpowering and sudden feeling deep in his chest that seemed to expand in him, make him feel like he was burning from the inside out. With a shout of pure, unadulterated rage, R slammed his fist into the Boney keeping him from reaching Julie, staggering it. He grabbed his brick that had fallen out of his hand when he was knocked over and smashed it's head in. The Boney fell and he quickly moved to overtake it before it could spring back onto it's feet. Black gore splashed on him as he crushed the skeletal-horror's skull, but he couldn't care less. He shot up again and tore the Boney that was still trying to reach Julie right off it's feet. It helped that he was taller than it. Grabbing it by it's neck, he slammed it to the ground and then repeatedly bashed it's head with the brick, again and again, black filth flying all over the place.

"R!" Julie cried again, trying to reach him over the furious boiling blood rushing through his ears. "R! It's dead!" Julie called.

R gasped for breath, feeling himself shaking with anger. He was covered in gore, looking very much like the corpse he had once been, but the wild eyes and blood rushing in his head made him also look undeniably alive. This was the first time since his rebirth that he felt such a powerful emotion make him lose control like that. Part of him felt a little ashamed, but the other part almost seemed satisfied by the result. He flinched slightly when he felt a hand on him but calmed down almost immediately when he realized it was Julie. Dropping the brick, he stood and turned faster than Julie had expected, making her stumble a bit. Her weight pressed down on her injured leg, making it buckle from pain, but luckily, R was close enough to catch her. "Julie! Julie...? Are you okay? Julie?" R begged, seeing the shocked look in her face.

"M-My leg it- it hurts!" She gasped. She hadn't realized how much pain she was feeling until that moment. And then she realized something. The Boney had torn her flesh... it had broken skin! It hadn't bitten her, but was that the only way- who knew what horrible disease it could have been carrying in it's disgusting and horribly bizarre, sharp fingernails. Was she..? Could she possibly..?

"Julie?" R questioned urgently, searching her face. Julie was practically catatonic.

After a few minutes, Julie took a shuddering breath, her wide eyes looking over to search his. "Oh, God, R! Am I going to... to..." her entire body shook.

"You're not," R promised her.

"How can you be so sure?!" Julie choked back a sob.

"I... I just know," R explained lamely. He didn't know how he knew exactly, but he did. R pulled her against him. "Trust me," he whispered. It took her quite a while to calm down and all the while she held onto him as though he were her life-line. R held her close, feeling shudders go through her, making him want to take her away from it all, keep everything horrible like this from ever happening again. When he felt her relax a little, he pulled back slightly to study her face. "Are you okay now?" He asked softly, caressing her cheek as he searched her eyes worriedly.

"...Y-Yeah," Julie answered weakly. Truthfully, she hurt _like a bitch _all over. She wasn't about to tell him though, no need to worry him than he clearly already was. Besides, as long as he held her like this, as long as she leaned against him, like she was, her leg didn't hurt so much. "It's fine though," she gave him a weak, watery smile. "If I'm not going to... to, you know, d-_die_... then I can live with it," she sighed shakily. R looked down at her leg, seeing the deep gash and frowned. He knew it caused her pain to put any pressure on it, so he did something he never thought he'd be able to do. "R! What are you doing?!" Julie gasped, latching onto him when she felt him pick her up.

"I don't want to see you in pain," R said simply, holding her up, bridal style.

"R! This isn't necessary, are you even well enough to hold me like this? Really! I-I'm fine, put me down!" Julie felt almost like a freaked out cat, limbs stiff, body rigid and a wild look in her eyes.

"Relax, you're not heavy," R told her. If he hadn't still felt so incredibly horrible at what happened, he might have found this very amusing. "I'm not putting you down so... get comfortable," R insisted, picking up her shotgun and slinging the strap over his shoulder. Julie bit her lip to stop herself from protesting further. Having gotten to know him better these past few weeks, she had come to discover a very stubborn side in him. While it was rare for him to argue or disagree, when he set his thoughts on something he felt he was right about, he could be almost as stubborn as the General himself.

And so, Julie got comfortable.

She was surprised by how easily R carried her, he didn't seem bothered at all. She knew his grimace wasn't because of her weight. Firstly, she knew how light she was. She had never weighed much and with the lack of substantial food around, she weighed less than was probably healthy. Also, like Martinez had said some time ago, his arms and shoulders were developing much faster than his legs, though since then he had seemed to push himself further and was pretty well rounded. The look on his face told her that this situation, including her injured leg, deeply bothered him.

Julie took comfort in R's strong grip on her, letting her head rest against his shoulder, even as she kept alert to their surroundings. She knew R was keeping vigilent though, could see his eyes darting around the area as he moved as quickly as he could back to the city. When they finally reached the wall, they breathed a sigh of relief. There didn't seem to be any more Boneys nearby. Kevin went rushing to them, his own rifle out and pointing it around them, but luckily not _at _them. "What the fuck happened?!" He demanded, noticing how grisly they looked.

"Boneys attacked us," was Julie's surprisingly steady answer.

"How did either of you get out anyway? You didn't come by this gate," Kevin frowned at them.

"Sorry, we- _I _didn't want my dad to know that we were going to go on an 'unnecessary' trip," Julie told him, giving him a look.

"...I won't tell him, but that doesn't mean you weren't noticed either. I'd hightail it to the infirmary if I were you," he told them. R nodded at him and kept walking. Kevin watched them leave and sighed. He would have let them passed if they asked, might have even went with them if it meant getting more supplies. It was then he suddenly realized he didn't preform a test on them! Turning sharply, he saw them enter the city. He thought for a moment, the virus worked very quick, and R had already been infected before, wouldn't that make him immune or something? He hoped he didn't seriously mess up.

"What happened?!" Martinez demanded of them with a gasp after seeing them walk in, hesitating a moment when she noticed how macabre R looked with gore and black blood all over him. She watched him place Julie very gently on his own cot and knew he hadn't somehow reverted to his zombie state. Martinez then rushed over, snagging the little bit of iodine they had left and rubbing alcohol as she went.

"We went on a little uh.. scavenger hunt. It was my idea though, R was totally against the idea! I forced him," Julie shrugged pitifully.

"I wasn't forced," R retorted.

"Shh," Julie quietly shushed him. R frowned at this, knowing she would want to take all the blame for it and not liking it. Julie hissed in pain as Martinez pulled her torn pant leg up, exposing the ugly equally torn flesh of her leg. It was fortunate how experienced and quick Martinez was with these types of injuries, having seen plenty of them during the zombie-apocalypse days. Julie reached for R's hand, feeling him squeeze her hand comfortingly as Martinez sowed her leg up. After disinfecting the area around the stitches again, Martinez took fresh gauze and wrapped her leg up.

"How is it?" R asked softly, his eyes boring into her. Julie saw the deep emotions in his gaze and tried to smile as reassuringly as she could. She wasn't feeling all that much better than he was, really. What they had gone through was something most people would be in shock for, for a long time. It was fortunate both of them had seen enough pain, suffering, blood, death, and violence than 'most people'. Even if the manner they experienced those things were sort of opposites at the time.

"It's much better," she assured him. He seemed to relax slightly and nodded. Suddenly, a rustle was heard from the other end of the tent and they turned to see John Grigio gaping at them.

John saw for himself what his men had reported. They had told him they saw R carrying Julie into the medical tent, her leg a gory mess. When he saw her laying on the cot, and saw R standing there too, looking a lot like a zombie, he lost it. "You stupid sonuvabitch!" John roared in R's face as he charged into the tent, his gun cocked and pointed right between his eyes. The fact that the boy didn't move an inch and stared right back at him, made him feel even more angry.

"Dad! Stop! He's still alive! It wasn't him!" Julie begged but her father wasn't listening.

"You brought danger to my daughter you little shit!" John's face was blood red, his veins in his neck bulging in fury. "It's _your _fault! You! You said you wouldn't let her get hurt! You fucking _liar_!"

"DAD!" Julie yelled in exasperation, eyes wide with anger and shock. "It wasn't _him_! He saved my life!" she insisted, but again went unheard.

"As far as I'm concerned that wall is staying up! She'll _DIE _now because of you! She's infected!" John threw his arms up, wildly waving his pistol around, getting into R's face. But R still wouldn't budge.

"SHE'S NOT!" R yelled back, raising his voice for the second time in only God knew how long. "She's not!" He said firmly.

"How the fuck do you know?" John's anger had not left him, but he did take a step back. He would at least listen to him before he put a bullet in his head.

"It didn't bite her. She's not infected! I know! I just know!" R snapped back. No one noticed he had not stuttered once, though his eyes were becoming red, unshed tears brimming them. "She's not! It didn't bite her! She's- she's not..."

John dragged his hand down his face and whirled around, storming out of the tent without another word, stiffly holstering his weapon as he went. His intentions were clear even without him having to tell anyone. He would go out and search as much of the city as the light of the day would allow him for more lurking Boneys. Well, at least he got to keep his head in one piece for now. R felt himself all but collapse onto the chair next to Julie's cot.

"R?" Julie probed gently. "R, speak to me..?"

R was silent for quite a long time before he turned his gaze slowly toward her. "Julie... your dad... what your dad said... he was right!" R's face was about as pale as Julie had ever seen it.

"Don't listen to him, R. It was _my_ fault, _I_ dragged you into it, remember? You didn't want us to get in trouble but I didn't listen," Julie said soothingly.

"I said I would, b-but I couldn't... I couldn't keep you... _safe_... Julie, I'm _so _sorry," R said brokenly, feeling his own tears run down his cheeks. Julie sat up and pulled R's large form to her, hugging him close and caressing the nape of his neck.

"It's _not _your fault. Okay? Stop beating yourself up. You're..." Julie smiled. "You're only _human_..." she told him. "You can't be everywhere all at once."

"If I hadn't gotten to you..." he shuddered. "If I wasn't so... _weak_, I could have-"

"Stop, just... _stop_," Julie held him tighter. "If it weren't for you, I'd be dead long ago, R. You rescued me so many times I lost count! You've always been my savior, my protector, and this time was no different," she told him firmly. "You pulled that asshole off me before he could have _really _done damage. All I suffered was a little scratch. Dad was just being overprotective and thick-headed as usual. R, trust _my _words, I was there with you, he wasn't... okay?"

"...Okay," R said in a whisper.

Martinez noticed that R wasn't in tip top shape either, knew that the bright red stain on his arm was not from a Boney and went over to him. R's dull eyes watched as the doctor cleaned his arm, not even flinching at the stinging pain the alcohol on his wound caused. "Now that you're alive and bleeding again, you really need to be more careful, R," Martinez said softly, sensing the deep and gloomy emotions coming off him. "I'm going to need to take a blood sample from both of you," she told him.

"Not infected..." R said morosely, in a very similar way he had spoken weeks ago. "It didn't bite her..."

"Well, I just want to make sure, okay? It'll make me feel better," Martinez coaxed and relaxed when he nodded in acceptance. After taking blood samples from them both, Martinez convinced R to leave Julie's side for a moment and go get himself cleaned up. It was fortunate the medical tent had a make-shift shower in the back, though it was mostly curtains around it that kept the privacy. R didn't really care at the moment. He bathed as quickly as he could and found the set of clean clothes lying nearby. He got changed and went back over to Julie's side. Seeing her asleep, he sighed inwardly and slumped against the seat next to the bed. Exhaustion from the day's events forced R's own eyes to shut and he soon found himself following Julie into the world of sleep.

Martinez found them a bit later, after having run her tests several times and concluded that they were both clean. She found them asleep and decided to let them nap. They had a long and difficult morning, they deserved their rest.

_TBC..._

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**A/N: **What an intense chapter! The story is starting to get somewhere, finally! I'm sorry if this chapter was a bit too much, I was kind of watching The Walking Dead and, oh I dunno, it inspired me lol. I _did _warn ya'll that there would be some language, blood, and stuff in this story. Go check the first chapter, it's very clearly marked lol.

Shout-Outs:

**haloedmoon:** Me too! XD

**Ashely Marie:** Aww, I'm honored! Thank you!

**allthefeelsallofthem:** Well I hope I didn't disappoint lol. It'll start being a bit more serious from here.

**warmbodies1d:** Aww shucks, thank you! I doubt it's the best though lol.

**Aki Yuhi:** Thank you. I'm way too sappy from tragedy. But I AM alright at writing angst lol as you can see from this chapter, even though it pains me to do it too. Sometimes it's got to be done though, you know?

**DanicaRem:** Isaac Marion actually said he took some inspiration from Romeo and Juliet. Though there are a few similarities, they're also vastly different. Thank you, to tell you the truth, I was hesitant to write a Warm Bodies fic, specifically because I didn't think I could make my wild plot bunnies I had forming flow well lol. I loved both the movie and the book and felt the movie was lacking, but I liked the style the movie was in so I decided to try to blend them!

**Dydelik:** Well, I figured since he's still relearning how it is to be a human, he'd be about as innocent as a child in some aspects, until he remembered or relearned them. He won't exactly stay innocent in my story though, just letting you know. You can start to see that a little in this chapter too.

**AdiosCiaoCiao:** LOL! Funny how you should mention positivity XD I hope this chapter didn't upset you!

**AhhMyLife:** Haha, that wasn't random, silly! It was the "energy" rebuilding his body.

**LunnarChild:** I nearly cracked up in the movie theater when I saw that. I was like "oh my gosh, really?" Thank you, glad you like it!


	8. Chapter 8

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

**A/N:** I'm sorry about yesterday. FFNet was having technical difficulties and this chapter was not showing! Sorry for the delay!

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Later that day, just a few hours after the incident with the Boneys, Nora had found them and hugged them both.

Nora had heard from Kevin of what happened, though didn't know the details and felt horrible for not having been there with them. It was a shame she was such a heavy sleeper. When she had woken up that late morning, they had already left. She figured they needed some time alone together so went to the 'library' to study a bit. It wasn't until she heard all the commotion about a Boney attack and Julie having spotted being carried in, injured, that she rushed over. Nora spent several minutes repeatedly asking them if they were okay. After lovingly but firmly telling her to shut up, Julie decided bed rest wasn't in her and forced herself off the cot. R protested vehemently, but Julie wouldn't listen.

And so, they made their way out, even managing to sneak by Martinez and her staff. "Are you sure you should be on your feet?" Nora asked, glancing warily at the crutch her friend held. Julie wasn't using it much though, preferring to let R half carry her as she leaned against him for support. She wished that she had been one of the nurses to treat them. Sure, she was still learning, and lately there hadn't been very many injuries to attend to, but she would have liked to be there for them! Maybe Susan would let her attend to them next time? God knew one of them was probably going to end up here again, as sad as that was really.

"I need a drink..." Julie answered simply, having R lead them toward the Orchard, taking comfort in his support. Her leg wasn't broken or anything, and she _could _walk on it if she really needed to, but she would rather let R hold her close. Besides, she'd prefer it heal sooner than later.

"It's not like they serve alcohol..." Nora retorted with a half smile.

Julie shook her head. "Doesn't matter." The three walked silently to the bar, Nora tried to joke a little, trying to lighten the gloomy mood hanging over her friends, but it didn't help. Their spirits were not high that evening. The ordeal they had gone through earlier that day still in the foremost part of their minds. When they got to the pub, it was already starting to get a little crowded. It had everything a typical bar would have, including a small pool table. But no alcohol. It was quite comical watching hardened soldiers drinking their worries away with juice cocktails, but John had banished alcohol some years ago and he was hard-pressed to bring it back, despite Julie's insistence that the reason he banished it wasn't accurate.

John had believed his wife had left them and died somewhere out there because she had been drunk, but Julie knew better. She had been with her mother, had seen the agony and grief for the world's ruin, she had known her mother just wanted out. Had watched the light of hope in her mother's eyes fade away, like so many others. It hadn't been a good reason to leave them, and Julie had no idea if her mom was still out there somewhere, but she knew she hadn't left because of something as simple as alcohol. Despite this, John refused to listen, refused to believe he hadn't been enough to keep their mother with them. Even if the hope in Julie's dad's eyes had also faded at the time.

The three ordered their drinks and sat down quietly. Nora felt torn between wanting to give her friends space and wanting to cheer them up somehow, but she didn't know what to do. Either by fortune or bad luck, a couple anti-zombie "Purists" - as they had started calling themselves – were in the bar that evening and had noticed them. Or more precisely, had noticed R. Funny how well known R was becoming in the city. It wasn't such a strange thing though that he was becoming something of a celebrity. He was, after all, the first zombie to becoming alive again. But there were people like these guys walking over to them that detested even the _idea _of "fraternizing" with the "enemy", refusing to believe their loved ones were really coming back to life.

A short man they didn't know all that well and a surprisingly fat man stopped by their table. Julie and Nora knew him, had known he would be one of the ones to switch over to Scott's way of thinking. They hadn't known he had the brains to confront them though. "You're that 'R' guy, aren't you?" the large man asked.

"Ye-" The man didn't give R a change to answer.

"Julie, why're you hanging out with a corpse? You know, you hadn't answered me last week, want to spend time with a real man? Bet we could have some fun... bump some uglies together, whaddya say?" He asked with a sneer.

Julie grimaced at the man's crude suggestion. "I _am_ spending time with a real man," she retorted, her eyes narrowing.

The man's own eyes narrowed. "What? With zombie boy? He can't give you what you need! He's a corpse! ...But I guess you've always had some strange fascination for them," he shrugged. "The dead turn you on, don't they?" he leered.

R felt his hand tightening into a fist but a sharp shake of the head from Nora warned him it would be a bad idea to react. R didn't know exactly what he would do, but the man was looking more and more like a Boney he needed to kill by the second. He took a breath and forced himself to calm down.

"He's more of a man than you'll _ever_ be," Julie glared at him.

"You should stay away from them, Julie, they'll always be monsters. They're just waiting to tear into you. Unless you're into that sort of thing..?"

Julie scowled at the man's words again. "Well well, big words there, Tommy," Julie sneered back. "I never knew you had a brain to use."

"Yeah, I got another big word for you, sweetcheeks. They call bitches like you necrophiliacs! Dead lovers! How do you like that? You're nothing but a corpse-loving whore," Tommy laughed with his companion. Suddenly the scrape of a chair was heard and the 'corpse' was in front of him, glaring at him at full force.

R had been silent throughout this exchange, trying to stay calm, not wanting to make things any worse, but that was the last nail on the proverbial coffin. He had reacted before he could think, leaping to his feet and facing the man. "Don't you call her that!" R bit out darkly through gritted teeth, an angry growl escaping his throat as he straightened to his full height. He was slightly taller than the man, but unfortunately, Tommy didn't seem too threatened and just sneered back at him. Clearly he underestimated him though. His mistake.

"What are you going to do about it, corpse? Get your corpse-fucking slut to fight for you? Bet she would be a lot of fun to smack around... God only knows she has to like it, if she hangs around a monster like you. Bet you're just waiting to tear her throat off!" Tommy chuckled darkly at the clear look of outrage in the 'corpse' face.

R felt a now familiar sensation overtake him at the man's words. Somehow, a deeply hidden bit of knowledge seemed to make its way to the surface at that moment. A flicker of a memory from his past. Self defense lessons maybe? Whatever it was, R felt he knew what to do next. His fists balled and his jaw set. Without another thought, he swung his fist, feeling it connect with the side of the man's head.

Tommy stumbled and braced himself on the edge of a table, having not expected such a strong punch. "Come on, Tommy! Show him who's boss!" Tommy's buddy yelled.

"Hey! No fighting! Take it outside!" The bartender yelled.

"Shut up!" The other man yelled at him.

"So... zombie boy knows how to fight, eh?" Tommy nodded. "Alright, let's see what you can do, corpse!"

"Kick his ass, R!" Nora yelled and smiled sheepishly at Julie when the girl smacked her arm with a disproving frown. Sure, most days she would have been interested to see what R could do, but this wasn't the best time for that. She knew how volatile R's emotions were right now, she knew because she was feeling much the same. It probably wouldn't do any good to pick a fight, but she supposed it might also help him in some way too. In any case, R wasn't exactly listening to anyone at the moment. He was too angry to pay attention to anyone but the fat prick who dared insult the woman he loved. When the man's fist collided with his jaw, R had expected the pain. What he hadn't expected though, was just how much more angry the pain made him.

They began to trade punches then, most of the bar was surprisingly silent as they watched the fight, conflicted perhaps over seeing them fight. While not very many people liked Tommy, R was still a stranger, and they were still a bit wary of him. One of the most surprising things about this was how well R was doing. It was obvious that R wasn't quite as well at it as he could be, seeming rusty almost, but he kept up well and even surprised Tommy now and then with a precise kick or punch.

This time, when R went to swing again, his punch was blocked by Tommy's forearm. He wheezed as he felt a fist connect with his stomach solidly. He stumbled back and another punch to the face knocked him back, making him crash onto the floor. "R!" Julie struggled against Nora's hold to reach him and go kick the bastard's ass who hurt him. R shook himself off and managed to roll out of the way of the man's foot, then got back to his feet. Blood trickled down the corner of his mouth. Wiping it off with the back of his hand, he glared at the fat asshole.

"Blood on your face should be a common thing for you, huh, corpse?" The man taunted, though it was very plain to see that he was getting out of breath too. R's glare hardened and he viciously shot himself forward again. Faking a left hook, he used the man's distraction to protect his face, to knee him in the stomach. The man gasped and R arched his arm this time, smashing his fist into Tommy's face as hard as he could. The man fell and R was on him again, punching him until he felt firm hands grab his shoulders and pull him off.

"Break it up! That's enough!" Another man in a uniform yelled. R blinked the remnants of fury out of his eyes, focusing them on his surroundings again and noticed that some soldiers had wandered into the bar and broke up the fight. Looking back over to that prick who insulted Julie, he noticed he had to be hauled out by his buddies, his face was a bloody mess and he groaned in pain. How hard had he hit him? He hadn't realized he had been putting all his developing strength into his punches. He felt a stab of guilt hit him. He wanted to teach the guy a lesson, not _seriously _hurt him. Maybe he should work on controlling his strength now? He also had to wonder where his oddly complete fighting skills had come from. He had always thought by what had had worn, that he was a lazy, unemployed nobody before he became a zombie. So how did he know how to fight?

Another thing R noticed was an odd array of emotions in the faces of the people in the bar. Some of them were simply shocked, others were angry or afraid, and a surprising amount had an odd sort of respect in their eyes. R blinked in confusion and felt the soldiers push him to his feet, toward the exit. R stumbled out, feeling a bit disorientated and still a bit upset. The next set of hands he felt were too soft to be the soldier's and turned to see Nora and Julie on either side of him. They both had unreadable expressions on their faces. R felt suddenly horrified to think that Julie would see him as a monster more than ever now, but she hooked her arm around him and stuck to his side. Was it because of her injury? Or was it that she really wasn't bothered by the apparent violence still in him?

The three of them were once again lost in thought. They were mostly driven silent for what they had seen from R. Neither Nora nor Julie had expected R to react the way he did. Julie in particular had many questions floating in her this been one of those 'amnesia' moments she had told him about? Was fighting like that part of his past? She hadn't thought R had it in him, but then, maybe death had weakened his appearance, maybe she misjudged his laid back clothes, maybe there had been more to this man than she had thought. Looking at him now, his six-foot-something frame was beginning to fill out and she _could _see the strength in his long limbs. Maybe it had even always been there, just hadn't been used in a long time. She knew he was probably confused about it as much as she was and hoped one day he could remember _something _that might help him.

Julie herself felt a bit conflicted at what happened. Part of her felt a bit scared of how violently R defeated the man, but another part liked what she saw. A Lot. That was the part that confused her the most. She had never thought seeing guys fighting for stupid reasons like name-calling was particularly attractive. But seeing R 'defend her honor' like that, was more attractive to her than she cared to admit. It was terribly confusing.

Nora glanced over at her friends and sighed inwardly. They clearly needed time to think, so she stopped them and smiled weakly. "Hey, um, I'm going go back to the library," she began quietly. "Susan's going to test me in a few days, 'want to pass it, you know?" Nora mentioned, sensing that her friends wanted some time alone after what happened to them.

"You don't have to rush off you know," Julie mentioned.

"It's fine, I really do need to study," Nora shrugged. "I'll see you guys tomorrow," she turned and walked off, leaving R and Julie alone once again, for once not teasing them. Julie and R continued their walk, Julie still leaning heavily on R's side. As they walked, Julie noticed blood trickling down R's hand and remembered the pretty savage punch he had given Tommy.

"How's your hand?" Julie asked quietly.

"Hm?" R lifted his hand up and saw his slightly bloody knuckles. His fist must have scraped the guy's teeth or something. "I barely feel it," R answered with a shrug.

"Come on, I have a basic medkit at my house. Don't worry, I know my dad's not there," Julie took his wrist and guided him to her house. Yeah, she knew her dad wasn't there, probably _wouldn't _be there until he was sure there was no more 'threat' around the perimeter. R said nothing, just let her lead him in. The house was dark but the generator had been refueled earlier that day, so Julie flipped the lights on and guided him toward the bathroom.

Standing by the bathroom counter, R hissed slightly at the alcohol contact on his hand as Julie cleaned his wound. Strange, he had barely felt Martinez cleaning his arm earlier. But then, maybe back then he was still too pumped with adrenaline from the scuffle with the Boneys. "Ouch..." he muttered, attempting a weak smile.

"Hey, you said you barely felt it," Julie smiled back just as softly. After putting a light bandage over his hand, she took it and placed a gentle kiss on it. R watched her lips touch his bandage and felt the oddest sensation of jealousy toward the bandage. He almost laughed out loud if she hadn't look up at him with that familiar look. It was a look that told him that she wanted to kiss him, or wanted him to kiss her. Somehow, though... R didn't feel he had the right to touch her. He had almost gotten her killed... or was that still John in his head? Whatever it was, R still felt unworthy. "R..?" Julie frowned when he didn't make a move. "Kiss me?" She compelled him softly.

"...I don't have the right," R answered gloomily.

"What? R," Julie's frown deepened. "Don't start that again," she warned him.

"How could you even want to touch me?" R asked. "I nearly killed that man. I... I was dead. I could have been one of those _damn things_, that... almost killed you," his own frown made his eyes harden. "I'm still a... a monster. I promised I would take care of you..." His words were jumbled, he didn't even feel like he made sense to _himself _at the moment.

Julie knew what he was talking about though, and didn't like his train of thought at all. "Don't say that! You have!" Julie argued and felt frustration when he shook his head in disagreement.

"I don't deserve you," he muttered darkly. "Maybe that.. _asshole_ was right. You should just stay away from me..." This was the first time he really cursed, but he didn't care how awkward it sounded out of him, it felt right to use it to label that man.

Instead of answering him, Julie's anger forced her to action. She grabbed him by the front of his shirt and yanked him toward her. R stumbled a bit but Julie didn't give him time to recover. She held his face in her hands and kissed him roughly, pouring all of her feelings into it, frustration, grief she felt for him, anger, and... love..? She tasted copper, his cut on his lip was still fresh, but Julie couldn't care less. "Don't you fucking say that again!" She growled at him, her eyes filling with tears she refused to shed. After everything they've been through together, after so many times he risked himself for her, how could he say that?

Julie paused. "I lo... I... um," she bit her lip. How could she put her feelings she had for him in words? 'I love you' just didn't seem appropriate. She knew now that that was what she felt, so how could she possibly let him know just how much he meant to her? "R, I would die a thousand times if it meant being with you," she told him, her angry tone softening. "You wanted me to be with you from the beginning, remember? Well now you're stuck with me. So don't you dare tell me I shouldn't be near you, that's all my heart wants to do," she told him.

R was, understandably, struck speechless by her heart-felt admission. This time, when Julie went to kiss him, she felt immense relief flood her when he responded. She could tell by just how rough the kiss was, how surprisingly dominating his tongue was, that he also needed to express his feelings to her. The kiss slowed down though and Julie could feel wetness on her cheeks, but she knew she wasn't crying.

When they broke apart, Julie took him and held him close, feeling the dark emotions rolling off him. She decided he really needed to hear how she felt. "I love you, R," she whispered into his ear, feeling him shudder at her words. She knew how long he had been waiting for her to say it. "I love you. I'm _in love _with you," she repeated, holding him tighter. Funny how she'd fall in love again in such a short time, but she never felt more connected with someone, even as cliché as that was. It was the truth. She never felt so comfortable admitting her feelings to someone. "So don't you dare think about anything else, okay?" R said nothing, but managed to nod in response.

They were both much too exhausted from the day's awful events, even with the short rest they had earlier. As much as they wanted to hold each other, they knew that John would be home soon, knew there would be trouble if he remained here right now, so they ever so reluctantly let each other go. Julie smiled sadly at him, her own tears blurring her eyes, her heart going to the conflict R was feeling. "I'll see you tomorrow, ...alright?" She told him, noting his downcast eyes and slumped shoulders.

"Yeah, okay..." R muttered, and then turned and left. Julie watched him go, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to comfort herself. She said a silent prayer to God that R would soon find his feet. It was plain to see that he was still torn between two worlds, no matter how optimistic he seemed most days. Julie sighed wearily and limped into her room.

John Grigio had spent the most of the day hunting down Boneys in the surrounding area, though only a couple seemed to be nearby and were dealt with quickly. When he had returned, he went to check on Julie, but she had left. Susan Martinez had stopped him and explained to him everything that happened. John had remained silent through the whole monologue, listening and feeling her words cut him as she spoke, hearing his own daughter's words in the doctor's retelling of the morning's events. Why hadn't he listened to her? Why did he never listen to her? And so, he spent the rest of the day mulling over the harsh words he had exploded onto R, the selfless young man who risked everything to keep his daughter safe. Sure, he was still upset that they had gone off without telling anyone, but right now was definitely not the time to focus on that.

Reaching his home, he noticed R walking out, his expression looking about as dead as the corpse he once was. Feeling the need to apologize, John walked over to him. When the boy noticed him, his eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks. "S-Sir?" R asked, his voice rough with emotions.

"Susan... told me," John began awkwardly. "She said you defended her... said you fought those monsters off Julie and carried her back. I..." John rubbed his neck tiredly. "She told me her blood is clean, like you said... she's not infected." John gave R a hard look. "I also heard from my men that there was a fight today. Someone insulted Julie and you beat him up, is that right?"

"Yes Sir," R answered honestly. John stared at him for a long moment before nodding. "Sir, about Julie's injury, it was... it was my fault," R shook his head, still feeling angry at himself despite Julie's insistence. "I should have been faster. I should have been more careful... I know about the dead, intimately. I should have known the Boneys would... be there," he bristled slightly. "It was an unforgivable mistake," he frowned to himself. "I... I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, Sir. I don't deserve anything... and I know you don't approve of me and Julie, I understand. I'll do everything possible... to try to earn your trust again, Sir. I'll do anything to... prove myself to you. I will."

John didn't say a word. He remained silent, studying the young man before him. He had screwed up earlier, sure, but John knew that R's heart was in the right place. Since meeting him weeks ago, John had begun to feel more comfortable around the boy, even if he knew R was still nervous around him. That wasn't the boy's fault though, it was his. John had always been tough on everyone, he felt it was the only way to separate the boys from the men. So far R had stood up for himself, explained himself thoroughly. And even though John might see 'explanations' like that as excuses, he _did _understand R. So what now? R wanted to prove himself to him. Maybe there was a way?

"Get some rest," John said gruffly, intending to find the boy in the morning. If R wanted to earn his respect and trust, then John would let him, but not at this moment.

"Good night, Sir..." R answered quietly. Had he really expected General Grigio to listen to him? R watched the older man leave and let out a breath, wondering if Julie's father would ever accept him or fully trust him. He stuck his hands in his pockets and made his way to his apartment.

_TBC..._

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**A/N: **Sorry again about the phantom update! Hopefully that won't happen again...

Yet more conflict in this chapter! Emotions are still pretty high... or are they low? I never really known how to phrase that. Again, I'm sorry if this was a bit too much for some people but hey, that's reality. Don't worry, things will get... sort of... lighter soon! And before anyone starts nagging me, book version of R DOES know how to fight. So chill out and enjoy it! You know you liked it lol. I ask you this now, there has been quite a bit of strong language, should I bump my rating up to M? Or leave it like it is? The problem is, I don't want people to get the wrong idea with the rating...

The song that I was listening to this chapter was "Shell Suite", which is actually a song in the movie itself! Well, to tell you the truth I listen to a lot of music when I write lol and not just sappy music, so I wasn't just listening to that, but I thought I'd mention it because of the connection. Honestly, I listen mostly to electronica because it doesn't have lyrics to distract me, you know?

Shout-Outs:

**haloedmoon:** Thank you and you're welcome!

**weasleywarrior:** Well, if I was basing this story on the book, which I've stated in my author's note at the beginning that I am not, then I wouldn't have changed the outcome. Seeing as I'm going with more of the movie version, he's going to stick with that personality. I love to develop characters though so you'll start seeing him become more likeable too.

**OmatikayaClan:** Lol oh don't you worry, there will be!

**Aki Yuhi:** Gotta love the multi-genre, eh? It's a lot more fun to write in my opinion :)

**AhhMyLife:** I very much enjoyed writing these two chapters. I normally don't mess with such negative emotions, so it was a bit of practice I needed!

**warmbodies1d:** I'm honored you think so!

**Dydelik:** His personality is who he is so he'll stay being the R we see in the movies, but he might develop a bit more. R in the books seems a bit more, I dunno, I suppose you could call it "mature". By the end of the book, it's clear his attraction to Julie is more than innocent lol. It'll be a challenge to try to blend both personalities, but I'll most certainly try to! I update daily :P if it's a short chapter though, and I have another ready, I might post double, but that doesn't happen often.

**Hannah:** Excellent! That was what I was aiming for!

**Girl In RandomLand:** And you are too! I would be surprised if you weren't a fan girl lol. How did you like angry R? XD Turns out he has just as much healthy testosterone as the next male! Lol

**JMV1997:** Lol don't worry, I'm a sap, I can't tolerate bad things for too long! Have you read the book? You should go find it when you can, even better than the movie! Well, it's a little different, I suppose they both have their own charms!

**AdiosCiaoCiao:** Happy you did! I would be cautious around him too lol

**Kuratu:** My secret? I write an outline, summarize each chapter, break scenes up and flesh them out. Also, I'm determined to finish this story since there are so few Warm Bodies stories on here so far lol.

**lovelyloupus:** LOL! Um... maybe a little? XD

**AnthonyC22:** Thanks! Actually, like I said a few times in my A/N's, this story takes place before the last scenes of the movie, during the time R describes. I suppose to can call it an elaborated epilogue to the movie, an extended one. The Boneys are still around for a while until the union between the zombies and humans makes them give up and die. I'm writing everything in between. Get it? R didn't go apeshit lol he was justifiably upset though. I saw it twice too... you know, to stimulate the creative juices of course... all in the name of science! XD 28 Days Later is my favorite, or it was anyway... it might still be, I'm torn between the two, you know? Lol.

**xMuffinsx:** I'm glad you found it too! Always a pleasure when people like my stories!

**Masterday:** I'm sorry, I slept through my alarm this morning! Sorry for the delay lol...


	9. Chapter 9

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

**A/N:** Surprise! Because I'm awesome, I decided to upload my new chapter at 2AM! XD Now carry on!

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The next morning, R found himself laying motionless on his rickety old bed in his apartment. Various boxes and things were strewn around the room, things M and Nora had helped bring back from his "jet-house" that he had yet to go through. He had decided a lot of it he would give to the city, but there were a few keepsakes he wanted. He stared at the boxes without actually seeing them. Last night he had a nightmare, one of the many 'perks' of dreaming again. He had killed Julie in his dreams. Instead of absorbing Perry's memories, he had seen only his draining life and had then brutally attacked and killed Julie. He took a deep, shaky breath and let it out.

A knock on his door roused him from his grim thoughts and he glanced over at the door. It was probably Nora or something, coming to get him to go see Julie or something. A part of himself smiled. Nora had become a pretty good friend, seemed to look out for him almost as much as she looked out of Julie. Despite her jokes about 'wanting him', he knew how much Nora supported his and Julie's budding relationship. Another scowl marred his face. He still felt uneasy about being near Julie, despite Julie insisting she didn't give a rat's ass about his concern that he might hurt her and that he was stuck with her. A smile threatened to spill forth from him at her fiery determination. Talk about roller coaster emotions...

The knock was more demanding this time, so R pulled himself off the bed, kicking a box out of his way and trudging toward the door. He was more than a _lot _surprised to find John Grigio standing there, holding a pair of shotguns. R glanced at the weapons and then nodded solemnly. "Please, do it... do it quick..." he muttered, closing his eyes. He only hoped Julie would be able to move on.

"What?" John blinked at him in confusion. "You think- no! No, son, I'm not going to shoot you," John told him, shaking his head. "What's in your head, boy?" John sighed. He supposed R had a reason to think that he wanted him dead, and again felt guilty about that. "I came here because... because I decided to give you another chance," he told him. R's eyes opened and he stared at the older man incredulously. "You wanted to prove yourself, right? Well here's your chance," John roughly pushed one of the shotguns into R's hands. "Meet up at city central to get geared up, we're going on a Boney hunt," he told him.

R was surprised at himself for accepting whatever fate decided for him. He didn't _want _to die, but knew he deserved it. He had done... horrible things, and eating a bullet sounded about as much as he deserved. A part of him accepted this, but he also wanted desperately to live, wanted to love, wanted to be human again. He wanted what he had been denied for who knew how long. He wanted to make amends, to redeem himself. He hadn't expected John to actually offer him a chance to do this. "I..." R didn't know what to say. He had been sure after everything that John would want him gone. "I don't know how..." R glanced at the weapon uneasily.

"It's easy, I'll show you when you're getting geared up. Ten minutes," John told him, then left. R stared down at the tool of death and sighed. He really didn't want to kill anymore, anything at all... but then, part of him really wanted to help get rid of those damn dried up skeletons. Besides, if this helped R earn John's trust, then he'd be willing to give it a shot. As he made his way out, after having cleaned up and gotten dressed, he spotted a fading poster. Squinting his eyes and trying to remember what Julie had taught him, he tried reading what it said. Love conquers all darkness.

...Love?

And then R remembered what Julie had told him last night. She loved him, was in love with him. This memory of her holding him close, whispering the words he had yearned to hear from her, made his smile reach his eyes. Maybe fate had something altogether different in store for him? Yes, he would kill again, he would help John hunt down those Boneys. He would do it because he wanted to give Julie a world she would be safe and happy in.

When John met up with R again, he noticed a change in him. There was that familiar fire in his eyes, the look of conviction. John could tell some of his men were surprised to see R, some of them even looked a bit angry, but no one said a thing, not even when John began to show R how to hold a shotgun properly. John just hoped they wouldn't try anything stupid out in the field.

"Are you sure you haven't used a weapon like this before?" John questioned, his brow rising suspiciously.

"I... I don't remember," R shook his head. It did feel almost natural though. Had he been a survivor or something before dying? Had he belonged to a group that went on food hunts? Fighting zombies and Boneys off with rifles? It made him sick to think of how that would have ended up. Had he become a zombie and eaten his former group? Or what? Part of him wished he could remember, but the other desperately hoped he wouldn't. John handed R protective gear, not that it could do much against Boneys, but it was mostly used in case of hostile _humans_.

As they left the protective walls of the city, R was relieved to find Kevin in the group, who nodded to him in greeting. The group was mostly made up of men, but there were a few tough looking women there too, a few even in their teens. John didn't seem to discriminate between men and women when it came to protecting the city. It was an admirable quality, though some would question it. It was also dangerous. Women could potentially distract the men or influence them to drastic measures to protect them. An inner, primal drive. But John had taught his own daughter to be a capable warrior, he would be damned if the rest couldn't defend themselves just as well.

The group walked on in silence, watching their corners and glaring into shadows. The city was eerily quiet as always, made even more ominous from the lack of zombie groans. It was just dead silent. "God, what I'd give for a zombie attack or something right now..." a nervous man said. R felt slightly indignant at the man's words, but he understood his sentiment. Even _he_ was a bit nervous as they carried on. It was disheartening to realize just how many of the men and women there seemed to distrust him, keeping some distant from him, but R didn't blame them either.

"Sir!" One of the teens of the group whispered urgently. "I saw movement, there!" He pointed into a dark alley. The group stopped and formed a tight circle like formation. R felt embarrassed as Kevin grabbed him and placed him in the proper spot. The man was only trying to help but R only wished he could blend better with them. He supposed it would take time before he learned their formations, rules, and lingo. He knew well that the hopefully coming end of the undead threat was not the only threat. Humans could be just as sick and monstrous as the dead who hunted them. He had caught men abusing a women several times before when he had been a zombie. He always seemed to go for the men first though, ripping their throats open. He had always meant to spare the women, but back then he had been driven by the deep and ugly impulse to devour to stop himself. Suddenly R felt very sick. Memories like that were the kind he wished he couldn't remember so well.

The group slowly made their way into the alley, guns pointing behind them, ahead of them, and above them. No one seemed to bother pointing _below _them however. The group was completely caught off guard when a half dozen Boneys spilled forth from a manhole, rushing at them from their hideout in the sewers. Had they always been this crafty? What made them move and behave the way they did? Why were they so drastically different from the zombies they had been before? Was it just another progression of the virus? Whatever it was, they seemed to be driven far greater now with the intent to kill.

"Oh God! Get it off me!" One of the teenager squealed, having lost his weapon when it rammed into him. All around the soldiers were attacked at all angles as the Boneys scaled the alley ladders and tried to cut them off.

"Stay together!" John yelled, blasting the Boney off of the fallen young soldier. The group pressed together in a tight formation again and even R managed to blast one of the Boneys' head. The Boneys seemed particularly interested in ripping into him, but he didn't care, as long as it kept their attention on him and not on-

"Shit!" Kevin screamed as one of the Boneys yanked him and one of the women from the group. Without thinking, R charged in to help him. He slammed his body into the Boney before it could bite the girl, sending it flying into the building. R raised his shotgun, but it slapped it out of his hands. He dodged a swipe and punched it in the head. The Boney staggered, but it was just enough time for R to grab his shotgun again and blast the horror's skull in. Kevin nodded in thanks to him and together with the other soldier they ran back, helping the rest of the group.

"No!" One of the Boneys managed to latch it's jaw into one of the veteran soldiers of the group.

"Sam!" John yelled angrily and kicked the Boney in the head. He slammed the but of his weapon against it, knocking it down, and then shot it twice in the head.

"K-Kill me!" 'Sam' requested, tears running down his eyes.

"Wait!" R jumped in front of John and the man. "He'll be fine," he said, then turned to the man. "We'll get you better," R insisted to him. If others could cure themselves from being zombies, surely this man could as well?

John paused for a moment before pulling out a rope used for pulling down rotting walls in the way, and tied the man up. "This is for yours and our protection, son," he told him. There were at least three Boneys left. R saw one of them drag one of the men into the sewers and leapt to try to grab him, but didn't make it on time. "Look out!" John yelled. R turned and saw two Boneys rushing toward him. R got to his feet quickly and dodged them. One of them turned sharply and grabbed another soldier, another teenager, and used R's distraction on the other Boney to pull him into the sewer as well.

"No!" R growled, using his shotgun like one would use a bat and slamming the Boney keeping down away from him. He gathered his nerve, then jumped into the manhole after the Boney.

"R!" John yelled, but was distracted by the remaining two Boneys to do anything. Kevin shot one in the head, and another soldier managed to off the other. That left two in the sewers with R... The group rushed to the manhole, pointing their guns into the gaping black hole and hesitated. The lights of their weapons barely penetrated the darkness.

"Should we-" Kevin began to ask, but stopped when they heard muffled sounds of gunfire and splashes, followed by very angry screeches. "Shit, we should go down there and help!"

"That would be too dangerous. It's too tight down there for all of us," John shook his head.

"Fuck. I hope the light on that weapon is enough!" One of the men muttered. Some rifles they used had flashlights all but taped onto them crudely. There was a few minutes of agonizing silence before they started hearing someone coming up. Their weapons ready, they held their breath. When R's head popped up out of the hole they all seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. They all readily went to help him out and were even more surprised when the two other soldiers appeared behind him. R collapsed heavily on the wall of one of the buildings, his eyes closed as he took deep breaths. The other two had a few scratches, one of them had a vicious looking bite in his shoulder and arm though. That man wouldn't make it, he was losing too much blood.

While the others tended to their injured and their dying comrade, John walked over to R and paused. R's clothes were ripped and he had lacerations in several places. "Did any of them..?" John trailed off. R shook his head slowly.

"I wasn't bitten but..." he panted slightly. "I don't think... I would turn again... anyway..." he said, out of breath. He at least _hoped _he was immune to the virus now! The fight against the two Boneys had been brutal. It was fortunate he knew how they moved fairly well. It was also fortunate he knew how to think like they did, knew the drive they felt and which points of his body they would try to bite. Even so, it was probably one of the most frightening experiences he ever put himself through.

"You killed them both?" John questioned with an impressed look in his eyes. When R nodded again and felt not at all a small amount of respect toward the young man. R had dived into the sewers after the men. One of them had even been from the couple of soldiers that had initially glared at him and mistrusted him. R had rescued them at the expense of his own life. John had severely misjudged the boy.

Meanwhile, since the hunting party had left, another party had formed with an altogether different mission. Led by Scott, he and his men crept toward the 'healing' zombie's 'lair' with not so honorable intent, unless you asked _them_. They had lured some of the 'corpses' out with friendly smiles and kind words, taking them some ways into the city, before killing them. By the time the skies began to darken that day, a few dozen 'reborn' had been slaughtered. The men returned to camp laughing and boasting to each other. Two patrolling men near the wall had heard them. "Kill them!" Scott hissed at his men, not wanting anyone to find out what he did, what he would be doing. For the good of the city. One of the men fell, but the other ran into the bar, halting Scott's men. Scott scowled angrily, this would not bode well for him.

Elsewhere, John led his group back home, noting how tired and sore everyone was. Maybe this hunt wasn't such a good idea. If they stuck to themselves for a while, wouldn't the Boneys just die off by themselves? John sighed inwardly. But no, he couldn't be soft on them now. Surely there couldn't be _that _many more Boneys in that city, right? John allowed the guard to perform infection tests on them. They had brought Sam, still tied up with them, and John insisted the guards stay out of it when they protested. No one would argue with John Grigio. Well, almost.

While John requested a couple of the less injured or exhausted men to lead Sam to the recovering zombies, hoping they knew how to help better than them, he led the rest back to central command. When they got there, there was a commotion going on, people yelling at each other, two groups of men shouting, some even fighting each other. "What the fuck is going on here?!" John demanded in a booming voice. The men settled down and turned to look at their leader. One of the soldiers, a particularly tough woman, pushed another toward John.

"Tell him!" She demanded.

"Tell me what?" John frowned at the nervous looking young man.

"Scott and his men..." the man began. "They killed Ricky."

"What?" John walked closer to the man, his brows furrowing deeper. "What do you mean they killed him?"

"Me and him were patrolling the wall earlier and we heard them talking. They went over to that place where zombies, or uh former zombies or whatever are staying, lured some out and killed them," the man explained, seeing his leader turning red. "Uh, um well, we ran and they tried to kill us. They shot Ricky in the back with a silenced pistol but I managed to run into the Orchard."

"Find Scott! Bring him here!" John said to the room. Several of the soldiers ran off to do his bidding. "Get some rest," John told the man gruffly. He glanced over at R, who was standing some ways behind him with a shocked and sick look on his face. It wasn't that hard to imagine how the young man felt. Probably about as bad as John would feel if some of his own people were dragged off and murdered too. R probably knew some of the people that Scott and his men killed. Fresh anger rippled through John as his jaw set, waiting impatiently for his men to find the bastard.

When Scott got there, the man had the gall to look completely comfortable. He strolled up to John and cross his arms, raising a brow as if he was doing something important and John was bothering him. "What do you want, Grigio?" Scott muttered.

"You better have a pretty good explanation for murdering people, Scott" John blew up.

"Murder?! People?! I didn't murder anything! I finished killing half-dead freaks!" Scott yelled back.

"They were alive!" John howled. "How can you justify a massacre like that so easily!" John wasn't blind to the fact that this man was acting very much like John had not too long ago. Maybe Scott no longer had a child worth changing for, maybe he didn't know R as well as he did, didn't see the miraculous change. Maybe John could see himself in Scott and was angry at what he saw. This furious anger he felt, John knew was not just because of the horrible things that Scott had done.

"They're monsters! They're just waiting for us to let our guard down!"

Not this time, he wouldn't do that again. Those people might have been monsters at one point, but killing even one of them would be like killing R... and the boy was starting to grow on him. "I don't care if they're still undead or not! At least _they're_ changing! Those 'half-dead' are less monster than you are! You're the one that's killing unprovoked, at least zombies only killed because they needed food!" John yelled.

"You're a damn fool, Grigio!" Scott spat.

"And you're out of here! You and your men! Get out of this city! Don't let me fucking catch you anywhere near here again!" John snarled, his face as red as blood.

"You're making a _mistake_, John," Scott growled.

"The only mistake I ever made was letting you stay in this city, Scott. I should have left you to your scavenging when I found you," John snapped.

Scott spat at John's feet. He turned to his men and nodded to them, roughly shoving passed John on his way out. Scott stopped by R and glared at him. "I know what you did to Tommy, you undead freak. He's in a coma now you little fuck. Just 'cause I'm leaving don't mean I won't able to keep my eye on you, corpse. You better watch your back from now on. One of these days you're gunna wind up with a well deserved bullet in your head," Scott sneered, then walked away with his followers.

John took a couple minutes to calm down, bracing his fists on his waist, he took deep breaths, then turned to his men. "If you have any problem with helping former dead with their rebirth, accepting them as _people _and welcoming them back into society, you're free to leave with Scott," he said, pointing toward the direction of the gate. "The exit is that way." He waited, watching just barely a handful of the people there walk off. It was fortunate how many people decided to stay, most of the men and women were loyal to John and beyond feeling that John knew best, felt what they were trying to accomplish was right.

John nodded to his people and let them go, then turned to R again. "Don't pay Scott and his lackeys any mind. You did a good job today, son. Go get yourself looked at," John pat R's shoulder in a friendly manner before turning and walking toward his office, leaving R and a lot of his men speechless. As R made his way out, he was shocked to discover that they _all _looked at him with something akin to respect and acceptance. At least, those who stayed did.

"Great job, man," Kevin smiled at R, nodding to him with respect as he made his way out.

"Thanks a bunch, R," another man nodded as well.

"Yeah, glad you were with us, man!" One of the soldiers actually reached over and pat him on the shoulder too. R felt himself blushing and ducked his head slightly, smiling at them and nodding back. He had never felt so welcomed. They had accepted him, he had proven himself in their eyes. He felt so much relief that he barely felt his wounds. He barely felt the pain of knowing some of the people he might have known, well, as zombies anyway, were now permanently gone. Somehow though, he knew M wouldn't have been naive enough to be lured out. He knew his friend was okay. Once he stepped outside, he was met by the eager faces of his friend and his love.

"R!" Julie, with Nora's help, limped over to him. "Oh my God what happened?" She asked, seeing his hair and clothes caked in blood. She struggled out of Nora's grasp, stumbling slightly as she forced herself to move toward him. She didn't care how much blood got on her, she fell into his embrace and hugged him tight. His arms went around her and it was all she cared about. He was home and he was alive. She hadn't known where he had disappeared to that morning, until one of the guards told her he had gone with John on a hunt. To say she was flabbergasted would be an understatement.

"I went on a hunt with your dad..." R explained, his arms pulling her closer, cocoooning her against him. "I might have gotten carried away?" He smiled weakly. No need to tell her exactly how much danger he had put himself in. "Don't worry, it looks worse than it is," he insisted. When she nodded and just held him, he sighed inwardly in content, feeling a different kind of relief with Julie in his arms.

After a few minutes of just standing there, Nora decided it was enough of a reunion for now. "Come on. To the infirmary with you!" She declared, and led them to the medical tent.

It was a relief _as well_ to find out that he didn't have quite as many scrapes and injuries as he first appeared. The ones he did have looked more like scratches on the surface of his skin than anything else. There were a couple deep gashes that had to be covered in gauze, but for the most part, once he was cleaned up, he didn't look quite so horrible. Fortunately, he healed so quickly that they would probably fade pretty quick anyway. He wished everyone could heal as quickly as he seemed to. Again he wondered why that was. Could it be the same type of energy that made him a zombie? But something else? He had felt something in him turn inside out when he had finally become human again... could the virus reverse itself somehow? Was it really that simple? It was probably something to bring to Martinez' attention some time.

Later on, Nora and Julie accompanied R to his apartment, intending on helping him unpack and decorate the place. He showed them in and helped Julie sit on his bed, despite her protests that she was capable of opening boxes and sorting through them. To appease her, R grabbed one of the boxes and set it by her feet. She rolled her eyes but smiled at him and opened it. While they looked through the boxes, sorting out what stayed with R and what would go to the city storage, R told them what had happened. He told them how when he left Julie's house, John had stopped him. John had apologized and that morning, had offered him a way to earn his respect.

"So what happened?" Nora asked curiously, sitting between two open boxes on the floor, a bit of dust on her cheek.

"We went into the city to search for a hive. Boneys have them too," R explained. "We made it down an alley when we were attacked... the Boneys had set a trap for us," he frowned. "I think they're getting desperate now," he muttered more to himself than to the girls. "We fought them off but two of the soldiers were taken... down to the sewers. I jumped in after them and fought off the Boneys... I didn't get bitten, but it wasn't an easy fight." R glanced up at Julie and saw the worry knitting her brows together. Luckily, she didn't make a big deal about it... for now.

"Then you came back?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, but we stopped by the center to put gear away. That's when we learned what _Scott _and his followers did... to the recovering dead," he frowned, glaring at the floor. "Scott and his men killed a lot of people while we were gone."

"What! Seriously? Was that what all the yelling was about?!" Julie's brows furrowed.

"Your dad kicked him and his men out," R nodded.

"I'm so sorry, R," Nora muttered.

"It's done," R shook his head. "I just hope..." he trailed off with a frown.

Julie and Nora glanced at each other. "I'm sure M is okay," Julie smiled hopefully.

"So _anyway_, now that those bastards are gone, maybe we can move the others into the city?" Nora suggested.

"Maybe. We'll probably have to deal with Scott and his lackeys bothering us though, that and the remaining Boneys in the city," Julie turned to look out R's window, a shadow falling over her face.

"Julie?" R probed quietly.

"..." Julie remained silent for a moment before shaking her head to at him and offering him a small smile. The 'attack' was still fresh in her thoughts too. She could almost still see that Boney still deliberately making her feel pain. She shuddered.

"You know," R began, trying to change the subject again. "I noticed a lot of people still... well, afraid of me," he began. "The soldiers I was with on the hunt I mean."

"That sucks, R," Nora frowned.

"It _did_. But I guess after I went after the two men taken by the... Boneys... I must have earned their respect or something. They seemed to... _accept_ me, when we got back home," he smiled a little.

"I'm happy, R," Julie said, finally turning to look back at them from her horrible spot somewhere down in memory lane.

"I'm pretty sure people are still afraid of me though..." R said sadly.

"I'm not," Julie retorted immediately, looking him straight in the eye. "I would trust you with my life, R. I'm sure others will come to see what a sweet guy you really are, what a selflessly amazing person you've always been," she told him firmly. Yeah, what she was saying was cheesy, but also true.

"You... really think that about me?" R questioned softly.

"I _know_ that about you," Julie answered. R and Julie shared a long and loaded look. They didn't seem to need words to convey their feelings for each other.

Nora noticed the heavy tension in the air and felt they should probably be left alone. There was something going on between them, something that just started to weigh heavier. She figured if they didn't figure out what that was and deal with it soon, they'd explode. That thought in mind, Nora decided they needed time alone and got up with a dramatic yawn and a stretch. "Well, I'm exhausted! My test is tomorrow so I better turn in early. Goodnight you crazy kids!" Nora smiled at them and left before they could say anything to stop her.

"She's been doing that a lot lately..." R muttered with a half-smile.

"I think she's just playing Cupid," Julie sighed.

"Cupid..." R frowned.

"You forgot who Cupid was?" Julie's eyes widened a fraction. "What about valentine's day?"

"That sounds familiar," R shrugged but his smile got a little wider.

"Cupid was this Greek or Roman god or whatever that made people fall in love... or something like that. I didn't pay attention to that sort of 'useless' information my parents tried to teach me. I was more interested in learning how to shoot a gun at the time," she shrugged. "Anyway, it just means she was trying to get us together..." Julie smiled.

"Why?" R frowned in confusion.

Julie laughed and slipped off the bed to crawl over to him where he sat on the floor, making sure to keep her weight off her leg. "To do this, cheeseball," Julie grinned and leaned into him, laying a chaste kiss on his lips.

"_Oh_," R nodded. When Julie leaned in again, R still felt a little hesitant, still wanted to keep Julie safe, even if that meant from him as well... but as usual, Julie wouldn't let him do that and forced her tongue in his mouth. It wasn't as though R tried very hard to stop her though. Bending to her will, R let her crawl onto his lap, shivering in the process and let his arms wrap around her.

Julie grinned into the kiss when R's hand slipped under her shirt. He was getting more bold every day. "Go ahead," Julie murmured against his lips after feeling his hand hesitate on his way up her shirt. Opening her eyes a bit, she could see him frowning slightly, as if having an inner fight with himself. He was trying to control himself! That bit of fact made her heart beat just a little faster.

R seemed to make his mind up soon enough and his hand continued to trail up. She felt the heat of his hand on the skin of her back and shuddered as he reached her bra-strap. When he played with the band a bit, she wondered if this was going too far. Why did she have to be so responsible all the time? She sighed and pulled away, smiling apologetically at his confused expression. "Am I doing something wrong?" he asked, concern evident in his glacier eyes.

"No, you're _definitely not_ doing anything wrong," Julie insisted. "But maybe... this isn't the best time to.."

"To what?" R cocked his head to the side in a motion akin to a confused dog. Julie felt a bubble of laughter at the sight rise up her chest but squashed it.

"Get carried away?" Julie supplied lamely. But oh how much she would love it if he'd just not listen to her and continue! She was sure he would probably not remember exactly what to do, but she would be more than willing to remind him. But with all that had happened to them recently, this was probably not a good time to explore each other's limits.

"...Alright..." R still looked confused but now he clearly also looked frustrated. "It's... getting hard to stop..." R admitted softly, a look of confusion filtering in his face. Funny how before they started kissing he was so hesitant, now he felt flustered that they had to stop. He was aware that the more they kissed and the more she let him touch her, the more... _stimulated_ he felt. He wasn't completely clueless, he knew what that meant, but a part of him was terrified of pursuing this deep... _need_ he had for her. He also knew at one point he wouldn't be able to stop himself. Though he _also _knew that Julie would probably not stop him either.

"I know, I agree," Julie sighed. She wasn't a fool either, she could feel how strained R was starting to get too.

"So... anyway," R decided to change the subject and slid his hand out of Julie's shirt, resting it on her waist. "I was thinking," he began.

"Oh, I'm sorry, that must have hurt," Julie teased.

"Sometimes," R smiled back in amusement. This almost felt normal again, almost felt like they hadn't gone through piles of horse crap just hours ago. "I think I'm going to see if Martinez will let me find work tomorrow. I... want to prove myself to the people here," he explained.

"I think that's a great idea," Julie smiled brightly at him, her smile fully reaching her eyes for the first time in twenty-four hours. After a little more talking, R insisted on helping Julie back to her house. When they got there, Julie was surprised by how civil her father was to R, nodding to him in greeting, even bidding him a good night.

Things were looking up again, now if only she knew what other catastrophe would follow? Surely things would get bad again? That's how it always seemed to work in their world now. Things would look bright one moment, then get filth dumped on it and it would go back to looking brown and awful. Their life almost seemed like a roller-coaster sometimes. She wondered if tomorrow would bring gloom or happiness. Hopefully with Scott and his men gone, things couldn't get that much worse... right?

Guess she would just have to wait and see.

_TBC..._

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**A/N: **Whoa! What a long freaking chapter! Well aren't you lucky! I didn't even notice lol. Do NOT expect a lot of other chapters to be this long, this was a fluke. I dunno about you, but I was drowning in all the angst! Good riddance! Scott was a jerk lol. Just saw the new episode of The Walking Dead. It was exciting! Rick is off his rocker! Ugh, Daryl, stupid choice, man!

Shout-Outs:

**4MeJasper:** Yes! Respect is earned in the oddest ways in post-apocalyptic societies... but hey, whatever works! XD

**MaddiegreeN:** LOL! Oh my gosh, I've never heard it phrased that way! You'll know if I decided to add any of that kind of "action" sooner or later. You'll just have to wait! I've seen it spelled both ways, YouTube isn't exactly known for good spelling, you know?

**AhhMyLife:** Thanks, yeah FFNet need to get their act together! To tell you the truth, The Walking Dead is a big inspiration to all the angst and negative feelings in my story lol it's just so much more realistic, in my opinion.

**Masterday:** And you don't think my story is gory? Lol okay good? No no, I know you weren't nagging, I'm just apologizing because I promised a daily update lol it's a general apology really. Maybe it might have been more difficult for R if he wasn't so ready and willing to help all those in need lol I guess people see passed what he did? Besides, now that all Scott's men left, it just left the people most willing to accept the changes, eh? How convenient lol. Kicking? Well, I didn't detail the fight but I did mention R got in a good kick here and there. Glad you liked this!

**OmatikayaClan:** Thank you! Yes! That's what I'm trying to do lol I intentionally tried to make the story start out slow but speed up. Have I succeeded? :D

**Rue Bladesinger:** Glad it was worth the wait! R does love Julie a whole lot though lol... ehem, anywho, I stated at the beginning that there would be language. I don't want to put author's notes at the beginning because I would prefer that people just jump right into the story.

**JMV1997:** What about Amazon? Or Ebay? There's always a way!

**warmbodies1d:** Alright, good, then I'll leave it alone!

**Kuratu:** Oh there will be, be patient lol.

**weasleywarrior:** I'm planning something that will have an M rating... not a sequel, but something. It's tied to what's coming in the future, if that's any hint lol. I'm such a tease.

**Surely Sherlocked:** I'm so glad you think so! That's precisely what I was trying to accomplish! If there's any way you think I could improve further in depicting that, let me know!

**Aki Yuhi:** I'll do that. When something particular happens in a chapter, I'll put up a warning. Thanks.

**CaptainMeghanSparrow:** LOL! I love it when some of you get so ansty! XD Don't worry, as long as I get plenty of input, good or bad, I update regularly! If you like this story, you should check out my Chronicles of Narnia story, that one's complete at least lol.

**Girl In RandomLand:** Every version of R, be it book or movie, is indeed incredibly adorable. Nicholas Hoult makes him even more so lol. Don't worry, randomness is the spice of life!


	10. Chapter 10

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

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The morning of the next day started out about as nice as Julie had ever experienced it thus far. She had expected another nightmare to interrupt her sleep, a vision of that horrible skeleton's eyeless sockets glaring at her in her sleep, ripping her leg up... but her dreams were blissfully terror free. Perhaps it was because of how cozy her departure from R was last night, just the thought of him kept the monsters away. It seemed he kept her safe while she dreamed as well. She let a smile tug at her lips at that thought, then got up to get ready for the day. When she limped her way downstairs for breakfast, she found her father there, actually speaking _with _Nora, not just listening to her rattle on like he'd sometimes do. And he wasn't even scowling. Just the fact that he was actually _there _to begin with was as surprise in on itself. "Good morning?" Julie said in an unsure tone.

"G'morning, Jules!" Nora greeted her cheerfully, walking over to give her a hug. "So... how are you doing today? You alright?" she asked.

"Nora, I love you like a sister, but if you don't stop asking me that, I'm going to beat you with my crutches," Julie smiled weakly.

"Fair enough," Nora chuckled. "...But seriously, are you really sure that you're okay?"

"Nora!"

"Alright alright!" Nora grinned.

Julie rolled her eyes. "Dad, what are you doing here?" Julie turned to her father, who was drinking some kind of hot beverage. It wasn't coffee or tea because those particular items were rare to find. Funny because the trees and plants that they came from were not being tended to now so were probably flourishing without people. Now if they could just restart society and harvest... but anyway, she decided not to think about what her father might be drinking. ...Hot Carbtein juice? Ugh!

"I can't have breakfast in my own home?" John questioned. Even _he _grimaced when he took a sip of his... 'drink'.

"Sure but you're usually out playing commander," Julie shrugged. "Have um... you seen...?"

John carefully set his – disgusting – drink down and gave his daughter a look. "So eager to see your boyfriend that you can't even give your own poor dad a proper good morning?" He raised a brow, amused by the sudden blush on his daughter's cheeks. Julie didn't say a word, just made her way to he father and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Good morning, daddy," she said dutifully, giving him an almost cheeky smile.

"That's better," John allowed a ghost of a smile to break the normal scowl his face usually set itself on. "Last I heard, R was going to talk to Susan about finding a job. It's good that he wants to work," John nodded in a way that almost made it seem like he respected that. And maybe he _did_. The boy had certainly proven himself lately, and now he went out of his way to try to contribute to their little community. If he kept that up, John might actually starting liking the young man.

"Oh! Yeah! R told me he was thinking of doing that," Julie's smile was bright, a lot brighter than either Nora or John had seen from her lately.

"Well, I should probably go take my test now. I still don't understand why they force us to take those exams every year... it's not like there are any new medical techniques or equipment to worry about," Nora grumbled.

"I'm sure it's just to keep your knowledge fresh," Julie suggested.

"Yeah, I guess..." Nora sighed.

Elsewhere, R had to try very hard not to go see Julie that morning, but he wanted some time to think before he did. He also wanted to see if he was 'fit' enough to start more rigorous exercises now. It hadn't been that long since his rebirth, but he felt stronger each day and felt his body could take it. Martinez had greeted him as cheerily as she always did, roped him into a basic physical exam and stated, as usual, that he was very healthy and getting healthier by the day. R broke the news to her about wanting to branch out, wanting to fit in, and wanting to stretch his developing muscles a bit more. He had expected his doctor to ask him to wait a bit more, but apparently his recovery been coming along much better than he thought, and Martinez decided that it was a great idea. She warned him not to push himself too hard, but that it would do him good to be more active during the day.

And so, R spent at least three hours that morning scouring the city, looking for someone that would give him a job. While most people seemed a little friendlier to him now than before, since he had gotten here, either there were simply no jobs where he looked, or people didn't think he was capable of that sort of work yet. It was fortunate that most of the people who didn't want him around had left with Scott, so it left the people who were more open to the idea of him being one of them. It was odd, he felt both pleased at what he saw and incredibly frustrated that he couldn't actually join in on society. The fact that ever once in a while, every half hour or so, he had to stop and rest a bit, made it all the more irritating. At least it was an improvement from every couple of minutes.

Around lunch time, he reached a bunch of men with odd yellow helmets standing around a pile of pipes, drinking boiling water. He wondered what that was about and approached them. R had a vague recollection then of the term 'hardhat' and 'construction' so maybe he could find work there. He was aware of the connotation of those words and realized that they meant _hard _work if he could get it, but it was something he was willing to deal with. Besides, it might even help him. He approached a man holding a clipboard and cleared his throat. "Sir?" He began, hoping that the formality of the greeting would soften the man up a bit.

"Hm?" The man glanced up from his clipboard. His expression looked about as grim as John's often did. "What do you want, kid?" The man asked curiously.

"Is there work here?" R asked. "I would really appreciate if I could... be more useful around here?"

The man studied him for a moment, smoothing his brown mustache in thought, before lowering his clipboard and turning to one of the other men. "Eddie, are we still one man short on residentials?" R turned to see a man about as tall as he was that looked, if possible, even slimmer than he did.

"Yep," 'Eddie' responded. He was one of the men standing around, probably on his lunch break. R felt a bit hungry at the moment, smelling cooking rice and beans being served in the general meal tent, but this was more important than his stomach at the moment. Hah, for once he was thinking with his head instead of his stomach, what do ya know?

"Alright," the man nodded and turned back to R. "Looks like you got yourself a job, kid," the man smirked. "I hope those lanky arms of yours can lift over forty pounds."

R glanced at his arms and frowned slightly. He wasn't _that _skinny anymore. Still... "Yes sir," R nodded. He had _no idea_ if he really could lift that much yet, but he would be damned, dead, and a zombie again if he didn't do his very best. If that was a limit he had right now, he would overcome it. Even if it kill him! ...Again!

"The name's Greg Adams. Call me Greg," Greg put his hand out to R, who accepted it. He had rough, overused hands. The hands of a man who worked all his life. The hands that if R continued with this job, he would have as well. Somehow though, R felt he could do more. For now, though, this job would be more than he could hope for. "Follow me, I'll show you to your team." Greg took R toward the other men.

Some of them seemed to recognize R, while others just looked at him curiously. R had expected the ones who recognized him to look at him warily, even afraid or angry, but they seemed about as curious as the rest of the men. The seemed as if they were simply wondering what he had to offer. It was refreshing to not be hated and feared. "I assume you know nothing about construction, right?" Greg's gravely voice asked. R nodded. "Alright, Eddie here is the team leader of this group. If you have any questions, he'll be your mother for as long as you work here," Greg smirked at Eddie's annoyed expression.

"Thank you," R smiled at Greg. "I'll do my best," he said with determination.

"That's good to hear," Greg nodded. He was about to set him loose when he noticed something. "Wait a minute," Greg stopped him. "Do you care about that shirt?"

R looked down at his dusty, worn, dark brown, leather jacket and dull gray t-shirt. "Um, it's just a shirt I guess?" He shrugged. The jacket, that Julie had found for him, he could take off while he worked. The shirt he didn't give a crap about and didn't mind getting it dirty or torn.

"Well good, because you're going to mess it up in this job," Greg nodded. "I don't expect you to work full time. I know who you are, I know you're probably still... healing or whatever, so you'll be working part-time for now, alright?"

"I appreciate it, Greg," R smiled.

Five hours later, Julie had finished a bit of target practice before Martinez had spotted her and sent her home. It frustrated the hell out of her because her wound was _not _so bad anymore. She could even rest some of her weight on it now without feeling a burning sensation. She was so tired of just sitting around! She didn't want the doctor reporting her to her father though, so she begrudgingly agreed and went home. She now found herself reading an old magazine while she waited for Nora to finish her exam. At least Nora could entertain her and keep her from going stir crazy!

Julie wondered how R was doing. She hadn't seen him all day and it felt kind of strange. Since meeting him, nearly a month ago, they had spent almost every waking hour together. Julie had expected to not be bothered at having a 'break' from him, but instead found herself _craving_ his presence even more. How weird. When she had been with Perry, some time to herself now and then had sounded great...

A sudden noise from outside her window alerted her to someone approaching the house. She set her magazine down and made her way out to her balcony. She was a little surprised and pleased to find R standing there, under her balcony. 'Romeo oh Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?' She thought and couldn't stop the unlady-like snort of a laugh from escaping her. "Hey there, stranger," Julie smiled down at him affectionately.

"Julie," R's very tired-looking smile lit his expression up. "Wait right there," he requested and walked over to the bottom of the balcony.

"R... I know what you're about to do. I don't think that's such a good idea," Julie warned him, seeing the determination in his eyes. R said nothing, just took a few deep breaths and visibly steeled himself before pulling himself onto the ledge of one of her house's large windows. Julie watched in amazement as R gripped the edge of the top of the window, used his feet to brace himself on one of the balcony's columns, and hoisted himself up. He looked exhausted but he was slowly climbing up. When he finally reached the top, Julie felt impressed. He had certainly come a long way! She ran over and helped him over the edge of the railing. R fell onto his back and let out a fatigued breath.

"Nailed it!" R was so tired by then that he could barely smile. He didn't even care if his muscles screamed at him or his recent injuries burned a little from stretching them all day, he was just happy to have accomplished this feat.

"That was _not _a very smart thing to do," Julie shook her head. "Martinez would be upset with you trying something so dangerous," she smiled, reaching over to caress his jaw, avoiding one of the scratches he had gotten the previous day.

"I know," R managed to laugh very softly.

"Well, I think it was romantic," Julie grinned, sitting by him. "And here's your reward," she leaned in, her hair cascading around R like a waterfall of silky gold as her lips molded themselves against his. R reached up, pushing his fingers through her hair as he tilted his head a little, better angling himself to deepen the kiss. Julie pulled away with a smile, knowing he was probably too exhausted even for this. It was then, with his hand still in her hair, his arm pressing against her cheek, that she noticed how toned he was becoming. If there was one thing she enjoyed most about a man, was nice arms. She could only imagine how well they would shape up the more he worked in whatever job he took. She grinned and helped him sit up.

John Grigio had walked into Julie's room just a few minutes after Julie walked onto her balcony. From his spot in her room, he watched R climb onto the balcony and saw the gentle kiss and embrace the two shared. It reminded him so much of when he used to climb into his beloved wife's window when they were younger. Those two were in love, he saw that now. He sighed inwardly, knowing sooner or later he would have to give his little girl up to another man, and then walked over to them. They were still so wrapped up in themselves that they didn't notice him.

"Nice to see you dropping by, R," John put in a bit more gruff in his voice than he actually felt, smirking in amusement when the boy's eyes widened and Julie's head whipped around to look at him.

"D-Dad! It's um-"

"It's alright," John waved her daughter's unneeded explanation away. R and Julie stared at him like he had suddenly sprouted another pair of arms, but he ignored them. "R, I hope you'll stay for dinner. I'd like to talk with you," he said quietly, before giving them a ghost of a smile and walking back out.

"What the hell?" Julie muttered. "What has gotten into him lately? First he shows up for breakfast, now this?" Julie gaped slightly. "It's like he's having an mid-life crisis or something!"

"I think... we should just happily... accept it," R suggested.

"Poor baby, you even _sound _exhausted," Julie stroked his cheek.

"I'm fine," R smiled, catching her before she could pull away and slowly let his lips caress her's. Julie felt herself draw closer to him, the hand on his cheek slipping into his hair while the other rested on his jaw. It was times like this when she could really lose herself in him.

"R..." Julie sighed, pleased, as they pulled away. "You're going to spoil me," she smiled.

"Good," R grinned tiredly.

"Come on, let's get you up and washed... err, I mean, get you up so _you _can uh- nevermind," Julie trailed off, flustered, and simply shut her mouth and helped him up. Luckily, R didn't seem to notice... or he was too tired to and simply allowed her to move him. Once R finished cleaning himself up as best as he could at the moment, he joined Julie and John down in the dining room. For once, since his rebirth, the plate of meat in front of him made his mouth water. Funny how a long day of physical labor could reawaken the ravenous carnivore in him. Maybe he shouldn't give up meat completely? It's what his healing body seemed to crave, anyway.

After a moment of getting things ready, the three began their meal. "Where's Nora? I thought she was joining us tonight? She finished her exam, right?" Julie questioned. She glanced at R for a moment, surprised to see him eating his food with such gusto. The last time he dined with them, he hadn't even wanted to touch his plate of food. Now it looked like he might actually eat the _plate _too. "R, _breathe_," Julie teased.

John looked up at his daughter. "Yes, sorry I didn't mention it. She stopped me earlier and told me to tell you that she would go help... what was his name... N? No, ...M? Marvin?"

"Marcus," R corrected, trying to speak after swallowing like he knew was the proper thing to do. It was difficult to do when he was so hungry though. And he tried desperately not to think about how much this reminded him of when he was a zombie.

"Right well, Nora said something about wanting to practice her 'healing' skills on some of them," John shrugged.

"Oh! I guess that's a good idea," Julie nodded. She would have preferred to be told about this earlier, so she could have-... but then, what else would she had been able to do other than sit around? Julie sighed in annoyance but her attention was drawn by a question her father had asked R. It looked like he had finished his plate of food already. Well, he was a 'growing boy' after all.

"Construction," R answered, taking the napkin by his plate and cleaning his face.

"And do you like it?" John lifted a brow. Julie blinked. This was an eerily familiar situation.

"I think so. It's... tough, but it feels good to be contributing. The exercise felt good too," R added.

"Good man. It may not be guarding the walls, but construction is also a very noble line of work. You're helping to literally rebuild our society," John nodded approvingly. R seemed to puff up a bit with that and smiled just a little brighter. Julie felt her heart swell a little at the sight. Were they... were they actually _bonding_?! Holy crap, maybe she should get hurt more often and have R rescue her or something! Her dad's tune had certainly turned 'right round'!

After a astonishingly pleasant dinner conversation, Julie was again surprised when her father decided to stick around and help them clean up. "You kids go on," he said, "I've finished my work for today so I'll clean the table," he told them.

"Dad... are you okay?" Julie asked, feeling truly concerned for her father. "You're not... _dying_, are you?"

"Julie, why on Earth would you ask me that?" John asked with a frown.

"I dunno! You just seem..." Julie frowned as well, trying to figure out how to explain this. Her father reminded her a little bit of how he had been when she was very little, when their mother was still around and still had hope in her eyes.

"I just... decided there was finally something worth living for again in this world," John answered with a casual shrug. "The dead are coming back to life, we're beating back the Boneys, I haven't lost more than five people in weeks..." he trailed off and gave them an actual, honest to God smile. "I'm... happy," he shrugged. He smiled again when Julie made her way over to him and hugged him.

"Me too!" Julie gushed.

"Go on, I don't care for all this mushy stuff..." John muttered, pulling his daughter away gently. Julie could see by the way his eyes shifted away and how his head seemed to duck a little that he was embarrassed.

"Thank you, dad," Julie grinned, then turned and beamed at R. "Come on," she went over to him, accepting his hand to support her. "I'll go with you to your apartment- don't worry _dad_, I'll be back," Julie added to her father who gave her a hard glance. John nodded approvingly then went to take the dishes into the kitchen.

"Are you sure? Would that be a good idea with your injury?" R asked in concern.

"You'll help me there," Julie countered with a challenging look.

"Of _course_, but what about on the way back?" R frowned. He glanced at her crutches laying by the door of the dining room warily, not really trusting them.

"Come on," Julie all but begged, "I've been sitting on my ass all day! I'm _so bored!_" She whined. "R, if you don't let me go with you, I'll make your life _difficult_," she promised, trying to look menacing, but her pouting lip just made R want to kiss her.

"Alright..." R sighed.

"Yay! Come on!" Julie all bit leapt to her feet, though it looked more like an awkward one-legged hop. They walked slowly to R's apartment. The night was cool and quiet, most people were either at the Orchard or at home by now. It wasn't that late in the evening, but since there were so much less worries about undead getting in, more people could spend time with their families now. There were still soldiers guarding the walls of course, making sure the Boneys that were left didn't breach the city. Once they got to the apartment, it was just as quiet and empty outside as the rest of the city. Julie grinned, taking advantage of their relative privacy, and beckoned him toward her.

R knew what she was asking for and grinned back, walking over to her. Julie let her body rest again his, using him to support her so that she didn't need to rest her weight on her crutches. R's arms went around her, pulling her even closer and even though he was still very tired, managed to almost lift her off her feet. Her crutches fell to the ground. Julie's squeak of surprise was silenced by his mouth on her's. She sighed in content in the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. Julie shivered in delight, feeling R walk her against the wall next to the apartment door. He pinned her against the wall, thoroughly exploring her mouth while one of his hands slowly slid down to her waist. Julie felt her toes curl once again, her heart thudding rapidly in her chest. She could tell he was starting to itch to explore a little further, but he was again holding himself back. She could feel the strain in his arms, and if she wasn't mistaken, she could _feel him_.

Oh God.

It wasn't exactly all that obvious, but she could tell he was starting to really get worked up. This was crazy. Kissing him was starting to get _very_ flustering, for both of them. One of his hands trailed down to her leg, simultaneously pulling it just a little higher against his own while pressing her a little harder against the wall as they kissed. She shivered again and her heart sped up. She felt a familiar thrum of desire course through her body, and she had to desperately try to force herself to calm down. Who knew he could make her feel like that? He could drive her crazy so easily and it was starting to get dangerous... A sudden image of them in bed crossed her thoughts. She could imagine R's long fingers getting to know her body with just as much dedication. How she would just _love _for him to explore her like a road-map... but alas...

"...W-Wait..." Julie sighed as she pulled away from him reluctantly. Maybe making out like that, out in the open - even if it _was_ pretty deserted - and when her dad was waiting for her to return, was not very smart. By the sudden stiffness of R's arms, she could tell he was not happy about this. Frankly, she _really_ wasn't either.

R groaned, very clearly irritated. This was the first time since their incident that they actually felt more normal and were having a _very _nice moment. "_Ju-lie..."_ he stressed in a warning tone. Another first for him.

Julie bit her lip and smiled sheepishly. Part of her was starting to like playing hard to get though, she couldn't deny that. The thought of seeing how far she could push him until he exploded was _certainly_ appealing. She knew he would never do anything forcefully though, and a part of her wondered if he even _knew _what to... do. Shaking away more inappropriate but _very nice _mental images out of her mind, she gave R another shamefaced smile. "I know, I know," Julie laughed softly. "...Keep your pants on," she couldn't help but add, watching in amusement as R's face turned red. He soon recovered though.

"One of these days, I'm _not_ going to let go," R warned her, allowing a tiny smirk to lift the corner of his lips. R didn't smirk very often, and when he did, he made sure to milk it for all it was worth. He had come to understand how much Julie liked it, and by the blush on her cheeks and how her bottom lip disappeared between her teeth, he knew he had done it right.

Julie cleared her throat, trying not to appear effected by his charm. She had a feeling he was starting to understand how _sexy_ he was. That might not be good... then again, it might make him a bit more confident too, which would be _very _good, in her opinion. "Don't worry, when that day comes, I might just let you hold on," Julie winked at him, turning the tables. Immediately, R's decidedly cocky expression morphed back into bashfulness, and Julie laughed out loud in wonder at how quickly he changed his tune, how dominantly sweet his personality was. "Alright, shrugger, I better head back now before dad sends a search party for me," Julie smiled, resting her hand on R's warm cheek. Was it her imagination, or was his cheek just a little rougher than usual?

"Alright..." R sighed once again, interrupting her line of thought. "I'll walk you home," he suddenly smiled.

"Wasn't I the one to walk _you _home?" Julie asked in amusement.

"Yeah, but I'm supposed to be the chiv-chiva... chivo..?" R frowned in frustration. Another word he had forgotten, or at least how to say it.

"Chivalrous? You certainly are, but it's really not necessary," Julie smiled. "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

"Yeah but-"

"R, really! Don't be such a worrywart! A little scratch on my leg won't stop me from kicking ass. Besides, the crutches will help me walk back home," Julie insisted. "My house is just down the street, anyway," she shrugged.

"...O-_kay_..." R relented reluctantly, though his expression told her how unsure and clearly against the idea he was. Julie planted a slow, gentle kiss on his cheek, making his eyes drift shut in bliss, trying to soothe him, before pulling away. She smiled one last time, then turned and carefully made her way back home. R watched in slight agitation, his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the frame of the apartment doors. His eyes were trained on her legs and the bit of her face that he could make out in the darkness. If she wavered just slightly, he would make sure to be right by her side in a second. When she turned the bend and disappeared from view, he let out an uneasy breath and made his way into the apartment.

_TBC..._

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**A/N:** More than a 100 reviews! You guys are so great! I love you all! XD As a reward I decided to upload another chapter sooner!

A lot of you asked how I come up with the stuff I do, or how I manage to write so much. Like I said before, I write a skeleton outline and summarize each chapter. I try to cram it full of as much detail I possibly can, so when I flesh a chapter out (using the summary as base points) in it's own document, I have plenty of material to work with. Sometimes when I write, as I'm typing, I'll just think of new ideas and try to implement them in my story. Really, often I don't have a whole lot of material, I just have a butt load of details.

_"Kissing like a bandit, stealing time..."_ (That's a song btw, lol!)

Gotta love all the tension! I'm sorry, I really am. I really _really _couldn't help plugging in another Romeo and Juliet reference... I dunno about you, but it made me laugh. Again I thought this chapter would be short, guess I'm not a good judge! In the movie, at the end of it, R looked completely 'normal', tanned, and strong... so I assume he had to go through something to get blood pumping in his system. My brother did construction work for a time and it really did build him up really well. This is my excuse...

1: It's hot and manly

2: It seems there would be a lot of it in a post-apocalyptic world!

3: ...Just _imagine_ it...

Deal with it. Lol.

Shout-Outs:

**MaddiegreeN:** Lol that's how I feel about reviews! Aww, I love that you love it lol. Since I have a pretty clear direction with this story, and I already completed the outline, I won't get writers block!

**Masterday:** Wow, that IS detailed lol I don't want my readers to lose their lunches though, I want them entertained! Yes, I noticed that too, not sure about it either. Maybe I'll change it around a bit, but the reason I added it was I wanted to emphasize R's lack of self-worth, what he felt for doing the things he had to do as a zombie. His experiences, or some of them anyway, are still fresh on his mind. He wouldn't just be okay with it, you know?

**Surely Sherlocked:** Haha well, unfortunately, Scott does play another role later in the story, he wouldn't just give up on his persecution of the former undead lol.

**AhhMyLife:** Well, maybe not badass, he's still kind of lanky lol but tough maybe when he needs to be :D

**OmatikayaClan:** And some fun they had indeed... lol!


	11. Chapter 11

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

* * *

It had been a particularly difficult work day for R the that day. After nearly arriving to work late because he couldn't just _not_ see Julie again that morning, he managed to stub his toe on a pipe and nearly pull a muscle trying to lift a couple large wooden beams. He was determined to keep up though! No way in hell would he let the people around him think he was too weak to handle this job. He had just as much to prove to himself as he had to his co-workers. Besides, he _really _wanted to contribute and help them rebuild. It had only been a few days since he helped John hunt down some Boneys- was it three or four? But at least most of his injuries no longer needed gauze covering. There was that at least.

It was just about time for him to go home, when he noticed something strange around his area. He had been working on securing the roofing of a new house being constructed, when he noticed his partner for the project had not said a word. The man, Matthew, or Matt as he had insisted to be called, was usually a really chatty guy. R didn't mind really, it certainly beat awkward silences. "Matt? Are you okay?" R asked cautiously. Something didn't feel right. He set his tools down and stepped over a couple boards to get to the section of the shabby little house they were working on where Matt had been. "Matt?" he called again, turning the corner.

"That's close enough, _corpse_."

R stood rigid still. His eyes searched the surrounding area and he spotted Matt laying on the ground nearby. He had a head injury from the look of the blood in his hair, but otherwise looked alright, at least from what he could tell. R felt his heart speed up in panic, feeling the cold metal of a pistol press against the side of his head. He froze, not remember what he was supposed to do at times like these. "You don't... you don't need to do this..." R said softly.

"Shut up," The man hissed, pressing the pistol harder against him. "Get on your knees, freak," he growled. R carefully lowered himself to the ground. Fear's icy fingers gripped around his heart. He knew he could do nothing to stop this man. So he shut his eyes, awaiting death to once again claim him, and for good this time. Even as he surrendered to death's call, his heart longed and cried out for his Julie, his love.

R heard a gun go off, so loud it nearly deafened him, and for a moment, he expecting to drop dead. But no, it seemed fate was not through with him yet. He was still alive. Opening his eyes, he slowly turned his head to see another man struggling with his assailant. The man was a guy R had seen guarding the wall nearby, he must have spotted what was happening. The guard kicked the man's shin, making him react to the pain, and easily disarmed him. The guard whacked the man across the face with his own pistol, making him drop to the ground, unconscious.

"Are you okay?" The guard approached R.

"Y-Yeah... thank you," R answered, his heart still racing.

"Come on, help me take this asshole to the General. He'll probably want to know what happened," the guard said, waiting for R to help him. R took a breath to calm down and went to the other side of the attacker, grabbing his other arm. They dragged the man to the center, ignoring the shocked looks from the people they passed.

"What's this?" John frowned when R and another of his men dropped a familiar looking man by his feet.

"The man nearly killed him, sir," the guard reported. "He knocked out Matthew but I think he's okay."

"You think? Well go make sure, son!" John retorted. The guard nodded and rushed off. John frowned at the man by his feet.

"Who..?" R began.

"He's Tommy's brother," John muttered. Now that R thought about it, the man looked familiar. Ah, yes, he remembered now. He was the man with Tommy that day at the bar. R had assumed they were just friends because they looked so different. "Kevin," John turned to the young man cleaning his rifle. "Take this asshole to the cells until I can figure out what to do with him," he instructed. Kevin set his weapon down and did as he was ordered. "R, how are you, son?"

"I... I'll be alright," R shrugged.

"Go home, boy. Clear your head. I'll talk to Greg," John told him in a surprisingly gentle tone. It was usually a tone he reserved for his daughter. It even surprised himself to use it on the former zombie.

"Thank you, Sir," R nodded and walked off. His feet followed his heart's instructions, seeking out Julie. Not exactly tell to her what happened, fearing it would worrying her too much, but just being with her always made him feel alive. He craved her presence now more than ever. He had almost reached her house when a familiar face approached him. It was M. "M? What are you doing here?" He asked curiously. M was usually too busy leading the people that still seemed to follow him to drop by for a visit. It was usually up to R to go to the stadium, so this was kind of odd.

"R," Marcus greeted his friend. "There is a problem," he began with a grimace. "Come with me..." R followed M back to the stadium, still feeling a little amazed at how easily he and M could walk in and out of the gate. A basic test told them they were 'virus free' which was a wonder in on itself, and some of them knew R by now anyway. They walked a bit in silence until they got to an enclosure that M and the others must have built.

"What's going on?" R frowned, hearing load screams and something bashing against the wall of junk piled up.

"One of us," M muttered. "Or, maybe not," he shrugged.

"You're not making any sense," R glanced back over when whatever was in there slammed into the wall in their direction.

"I- well, maybe you should... see for yourself. Come," M led R up some stares. R had to help M a little as M did not have the type of help that R was getting at the moment. He hoped that would change soon. M took him to a large window overlooking the parking lot where the odd enclosure was. Right below them, they could see inside of it very easily. They saw what looked like a deranged zombie, he wasn't even healing like the rest of them were, he still looked rotten. "He didn't accept the change," M let out a breath, looking down at the crazed undead sadly.

_Flesh! Flesh! Kill! Devour! _

The half-mad tore at it's face, relishing the feeling of freedom it seemed to bring from being released from the binds of it's own flesh.

_Kill! Hate! EAT!_

It would devour the world if it could... perhaps it can?

"He's turning into a Boney. We need to... kill it," M said grimly.

Wild horrible eyes stared up at the them, hungrily. It looked around him again, taking in a breath and smelling living nearby. It screamed again. It could spell them but it couldn't see them. It's eyes looked, but it did not see. It's eyes were in the way.

"Oh, ugh," R turned to look away, seeing someone, or something for that matter, gouge it's own eyes out was just about as disgusting as he'd ever seen since his rebirth. Maybe he had gotten soft. It was still repulsive though. At least it distracted him from what happened earlier. "We should probably tell General Grigio..." R mentioned with a frown at the crazy thing wrecking itself.

"Maybe," M grunted. "He needs to know that not... everyone is going to heal right, at least, not right... in the head," he nodded. Both of them left once more and walked back into the city, heading straight for the center. John had been coordinating another hunt in the future with Rosso, when he heard the guard questioning someone at the entrance. He turned to see R and M standing there and signaled for them to come in. The guard at the entrance didn't know them as well as some. "General," M grunted in greeting.

"Marcus," John answered back. "R," he nodded to the younger man. "What can I do for you, gentlemen?" he asked curiously.

"There's a problem back at the stadium," R began.

"What sort of problem?" John frowned. "Do I need to take armed men?"

"No, not really... but you may want to come see for yourself," R told him.

John glanced at Rosso who nodded in understanding and took the plans with him. "What's going on?" He demanded.

"It's a- well, a zombie," R sighed. "He hasn't healed like most of us. He's turning into a... Boney."

"Then kill it. I don't see the problem," John blinked in confusion.

"We don't have weapons," M shrugged.

"Oh, I see," John nodded, then pulled out his pistol. For a fraction of a second R was reminded of when John had put his gun to his head and almost thought he would do the same to M. What he did instead, surprised him even more. He offered the gun to his friend. "Take it. Do everyone a service and kill that thing before it escapes from whatever cage you have it in," John said.

"Thank you. I will," M accepted the pistol.

"Do you know how to use it?" John questioned.

"Yes," M nodded. "I remember having one when... I was alive," he answered.

"Good. Then maybe we could talk about how else you can help us and your people when you finish your business," John offered. This was a big step. John was well aware of M's connection to the other former zombies and knew if he could form a... well, maybe not a friendship exactly, but an acquaintance, then things could go a lot smoother.

"I agree," M nodded, and slapped R on the shoulder in a friendly manner. "I'll let you get back to Julie," M winked at the younger man, chuckling softly when his friend blushed. R decided he wouldn't tell M about what happened to him earlier. M had a lot of things on his plate at the moment. R knew that M cared about him a great deal, almost like a brother or an uncle. If he learned about the attempt on his life, he might take measures into his own hands. M had always been a little better at accepting the terrible violence within them.

R watched his friend leave and then turned to John. "Do you know where Scott and his men are... now?" he asked carefully.

"No," John shook his head, giving him a sympathetic look. "They wandered deep into the city and could be anywhere. It would take us all night to locate even a clue," he answered. "Come on, it'll make Julie happy if you join us for dinner," he offered.

"Yeah..." R agreed with a shy smile. John still intimidated him, but it was starting to get easier to talk to him at least, especially with how much more... cheerful the older man had been lately. It was a little odd to look at sometimes, but it was a good thing and he wasn't about to complain. Perhaps what happened wasn't _just _changing the former undead, but the living as well.

"Dad? R?" Julie's eyes widened at seeing both men walk into the house.

"Hi Julie," R smiled softly. His heart, as always, thudded against his chest whenever his eyes landed on his beautiful visage. Now more than ever, after he thought he wouldn't see her again, he wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and never let her go.

"I'm going to go get dinner started," John muttered, seeing how the two looked at each other. It was clear they wanted to get 'reacquainted'. John would let them have a few minutes to themselves. It wasn't that he didn't trust R, he actually _did, _he was starting to anyway. But he did _not _trust his daughter. Especially around boys.

"I missed you," Julie grinned, ignoring her crutches as she made her way to him. R took a few long strides and was by her side, taking her into his inviting arms. R said nothing. He just pulled her close and held her. He rested his chin atop her head and took a deep breath. Julie snuggled against his embrace but could tell something was off with him today. "R? What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"I um..." R cleared his throat and pulled back slightly to look into her eyes. "I... didn't want to tell you," he began.

"What is it? What happened?" Worry creased Julie's forehead and R leaned in to kiss it tenderly.

"It's... it's nothing, nevermind," R shook his head. Maybe this was a bad idea?

"Hell no, R! You come in here telling me there's something you didn't want me to know in that way. There's something wrong, tell me," Julie insisted.

"I was attacked today," he mumbled, not looking at her. Julie slid her hands onto his cheeks, forcing him to look at her.

"Tell me," she implored again. Her voice wavered but her eyes remained steady. So R explained to her what happened. He told her he was threatened and almost killed by Tommy's brother. If it hadn't been for the guard nearby, that would have been it for him. Julie wrapped her arms tightly around him, hiding her face in his shirt as she squeezed her eyes shut. So much for her perfect world. _That_ certainly didn't last!

R held her close, stroking her hair gently. He wasn't sure which of them was more upset at the moment. He certainly felt horrible earlier, but right now, all he cared about was comforting Julie. He didn't feel quite as bad as long as she was with him. R noticed John standing by the doorway with an unreadable look. It was almost sympathetic. Almost.

"I'm... not sure how to clean the fish," John suddenly spoke. He watched as his daughter very slowly pulled herself away from the young man's grip and look over her shoulder at him. He had expected her eyes to be red and cheeks puffy, expected for her to cry, but apparently he had raised one tough cookie. She looked visibly upset of course, but nowhere near as much as he'd seen many other women look when something like this or worse happened. "If you don't mind..?" John asked softly, his usual gruff tone softening for his daughter's sake. Of course he _did _know how to clean and gut fish, but he also knew that keeping busy always seemed to calm his daughter down. Julie nodded, wiping a few rebellious tears that managed to escape her and reluctantly pulled away from the arms of her boyfriend. R followed them into the kitchen, intending on helping them cook in any way he could.

R hated the quiet more than anything. It was what he had to endure when he was a zombie. If it wasn't for M, who he could at least mutter things to once in a while and get a response, he would have gone insane. The silence coming off Julie was about as bad as anything he had endured. He would trade not being able to speak just to hear her talking and laughing again. "Julie?" he asked, glancing over to her while he diced carrots. It was a slow process for him, since he wasn't exactly sure how to cut the vegetables without slicing and dicing his own hand, but he was determined to be useful.

"Hm?" Julie murmured.

"So... how do you know how to clean fish... so well?" He asked, trying to distract her.

"Oh um, my mom showed me how, years ago," Julie explained. "We camped a lot when we were on the road. Sometimes, if we could, dad would let me help him fishing in a stream or river we stopped by. Mom would then show me how to clean and prepare the fish. I don't know how _she _knew how to clean it, but there you go," Julie shrugged and a very soft smile appeared on her face.

R saw that as encouragement and continued with the conversation. "How did you prepare them?"

"We would grill the fish over an open fire, tons of them sometimes. I think without all the fishing companies, there were a lot more fish around... we would have feasts and sometimes. When the radio from the car caught a rare, still active station, we would dance..." she trailed off. There were tears in her eyes but this time, they were from a happy memory.

"That sounds like a lot of fun," R smiled.

"It was," Julie nodded. She took a shaky breath. "Okay, I think they're ready." She stepped back and regarded the three whole fish. "I'm pretty sure they don't have anymore scales," she shrugged. R and John shared a look, glad that Julie had been brought out of whatever gloomy storm she had been caught in. John nodded to R in thanks, then went over to inspect his daughter's work.

"So, 'you going to cut those carrots all night or what?" Julie turned to smile weakly at R. She still looked upset, but it was clear that she was trying to get passed it. "Let me help, or we'll never eat," she offered and went over to instruct him on easier ways to slicing vegetables.

It was a quiet meal for the most part, but this time, it was surprisingly a pleasant, companionable silence. It was not at all strained or hostile. It _was _just a little bit awkward though, but that was only because R and Julie were seeing each other and they were sitting at the table with Julie's very protective father. But that was almost... normal. Natural. Not at all upsetting really. It was crazy how ordinary they felt at the moment.

"I spoke to Greg a little while ago. He's willing to give you a few days off. It's not easy to go through what you did," John mentioned after taking a sip of water, placing his chipped cup down.

"I appreciate it, Sir, but I don't think that's... necessary..." R shifted a little uneasily. He didn't like being treated special.

"It is, son. It's necessary for your state of mind. 'Don't want you getting distracted with hammers, drills and saws all around you," John argued. "It's just a few days, two at most if you like," he said. "I insist."

"I don't know what to say," R blushed.

"It sounds good to me," Julie smiled mysteriously. "I can help him with his _state of mind_," she grinned.

"Julie," John gave his daughter a warning look.

"What? I know basic psychology. I could totally help him," she chuckled. John didn't say anything, just gave her a hard stare. "Okay fine, whatever," Julie huffed. Figures her dad wouldn't let R spend that much time around her. Did he really not trust her? ...Well okay, so maybe she really couldn't blame him. How many times had she snuck out with Perry? How many times had she disobeyed him, brought in alcohol, started a fight, or just caused trouble in general? Yeah, her dad knew her well. Well, he should also know then that she'd find a way to spend time with R.

John was glad his daughter didn't seem quite so depressed anymore, and he understood, especially now that she learned there had been an attempt on R's life, that she would want to stay with him. But he knew that desperation to be closer to R could be a powerful motivator to do things he was sure neither of those two were ready for. No, they were better off seeing each other now and again, and then spending time apart. He _was _well aware of how crafty his daughter could be though. He knew she would somehow find a way to disregard his concerns and he sighed inwardly. It was times like these he was glad he had never had any more kids.

A few moments of silence followed, each of them happily chowing away on their food. The fish was actually pretty delicious. Finally they could now have a source of protein that seemed pretty abundant until they could get bigger pastures for their other animals. Since the zombies weren't a problem anymore, they had carefully started branching out a little more. There was a shoreline just a few miles away from stadium city. People had seen fish around in that area before, but at the time, it had been too dangerous to go near there. Not anymore though. Of course, they still had to worry about Boneys, but Boneys stuck to places they could hide in, generally. There weren't a whole lot of other human settlements nearby, so they didn't have to worry about competing for resources for the moment either.

John glanced up from his plate at the young man sitting next to his daughter. R had finished his food and was idly pushing fish bones around on his plate. John could tell that R was still very troubled by what happened earlier that day, even if he didn't outwardly show it so much anymore. It might have gone easier if he had known how to disarm the attacker. From what he had heard, R knew how to fight, at least street fight, but besides the little John had shown him before and the basic he seemed to already know, he hadn't known how to deal with that 'Purist'. He decided some training would do him some good. "I think it's about time you start officially training with weapons," John finally spoke up.

"You serious, dad?" Julie gave him a look.

"Absolutely," John nodded. "If he's going to be a part of this community, he needs to learn to defend others as well as himself."

"I... don't know," R hesitated. "The idea of killing... again..." he trailed off. "I... have a lot of blood on my hands already..." he muttered darkly.

"That may be true, but have you ever killed just to kill? Killed just because you could or wanted to?" John questioned. This was something _he_ hadn't even thought of before, but seeing the dark emotions in the young man's face, remorse for what he had been, inspired this kind of thought from him.

"...No, it had always been because of need," R answered, an odd look in his face, as if he hadn't thought of that either.

"Then what you did was for your survival, yes? You did it because you had to. In the same respect, we too must kill, or _be_ killed. It's a vicious world we live in, son, but sometimes the only way to stop further violence, is _with_ violence," the older man explained.

"I...I guess you're right," R didn't look completely sure, but at least he looked thoughtful.

"For the most part, you would be learning what to do with and around weapons. For now you'd be helping to defend against Boneys," John assured him. He knew by now how R felt about harming another human if he could help it. "You helped a great deal last time. I know I for one would feel better if you were with us, son," John told him honestly. He saw the look of awe and joy in the young man's face and knew he had said the right words to convince him.

"...Alright, I'll do it," R nodded.

"Good man," John said, nodding approvingly.

_TBC..._

* * *

**A/N:** Oh boy, do I have some goodies planned for the next chapter! Muahahaha! Sadly, nothing with shotguns though. In this chapter I wanted to explore into what it might be like when a zombie began to turn into a Boney, as well as remind people that it's still not completely safe with Scott and his monkeys nearby...lol. I hope ya'll liked it! Sorry for the vivid images... was inspired again. Bad 'The Walking Dead'! Lol! J/K I wasn't actually watching 'The Watching Dead' this time, I was just in an odd mood. Besides, what's a post-apocalyptic story without a little bit of gore and dark scenarios? Seriously!

Oh BTW, any of you who think John is changing too quickly, just keep in mind of everything that he and R went through, just like Julie and him. In the movie, John is a bit stubborn but by the end, he accepts what's going on and even apologizes to R lol in his own way anyway. I don't think it's too unreasonable to say that seeing R striving to help people and be a good person, wouldn't lessen him a bit. And with the fact that they could now get supplies much easier and the thousands of zombies no longer bothered them, wouldn't that make him relax a little more? That's my excuse anyway.

Shout-Outs:

**OmatikayaClan:** You know I will :D

**No One:** Angsty? The chapter or the story as a whole?

**lovelyloupus:** Yes, lots of sexiness that chapter lol, lots more to come! :P

**hannahleep123:** Me too, but I have to give it at least one day for people to have a chance to read and review lol.

**Surely Sherlocked:** Muahaha...

**Aki Yuhi:** Thank you so much! I'm so happy you think so highly of my story! I appreciate your kind words and I'd give you a hug if I could lol.

**batgirl147:** I will do so and thank you, glad you think so!

**Fang-delight:** To tell you the truth, R was the character I was most afraid of writing out of character lol I'm glad I still haven't yet!

**arrowprincess12:** Thanks a bunch! :D

**warmbodies1d:** Lol that's true.


	12. Chapter 12

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

* * *

If there was one thing that the people in stadium city kept from old times, was work schedules. Weekday and weekends. People would change shifts of course, there would never not be anyone on guard, but they still had their weekends. Today was Friday. R had been given today and Monday off - _including_ the weekend - to 'recover' from his scare the previous day, despite his protests. It wasn't as if he needed _that _much time. Last night he had plenty of time to think about everything that happened. He didn't really need any more. Not really...

Unfortunately, John had insisted that R rest at his apartment, to not indulge in his daughter's need to spend every waking minutes with him, or his for that matter, that some time apart was healthy. R spent a few hours of the morning brooding, only interrupted once when M dropped by. The two sat and talked for about an hour before M had to leave again. R was happy that his buddy hadn't been hurt by the Purists. After M left, R went back to sulking, listening to Frank Sinatra and attempting to read a book. He wanted so badly to go see Julie, but he also wanted to earn and keep John's trust.

Elsewhere, Nora watch Julie pacing in her room. "This is sucks. Why do I have to be caged in here? Why can't R come over?" She grumbled. Julie realized she sounded like a bratty child at the moment, but _damnit_, she didn't care at the moment.

"Should you be on your feet?" Nora questioned, ignoring her ranting and raving for the most part. She was all too familiar with this anyway. When Julie didn't get her way, she was a whirlwind of rebellion and trouble. Fortunately, she had mellowed out through the years. Sort of.

"I told you it's fine. You said so yourself," Julie answered with an annoyed sigh. She was so tired of everyone making such a big deal over a little scratch. So what if that Boney nearly literally tore her food off? That was a week ago! She felt fine! Really!

"You're certainly worked up this morning," Nora smirked, not looking up from her papers. "Anything fun happen last night? Seems you're really eager to see R this time..."

"I'm _always _eager to see him," the younger woman retorted.

"Don't get snippy with me, or _I'll_ break your _good_ leg," Nora smiled cheerfully, this time glancing up at her younger friend.

"Shut up, Nora," Julie rolled her eyes, but didn't stop the smile. She sat down at the edge of her bed and sighed. "I'm _so_ bored..." she whined.

"So... you didn't answer me. Anything fun happen between you two last night?" Nora wagged her eyebrows.

Julie paused in her ranting to regard her friend. Actually, nothing happened last night at all. After dinner, they had shared a goodnight kiss and R had gone home. No fight to stay longer, no getting 'interrupted' after serious kissing, nothing. It was odd, but then, he probably had a lot on his mind last night. Julie sighed, knowing her friend would want to hear something interest.

...So she would tell her something interesting.

"Sure. R took me back to his apartment, and he ripped my clothes right off, _with his teeth_. It turns out he's actually a bit of an animal! We might have broken his bed though," Julie shrugged nonchalantly and then laughed at Nora's stunned expression. "I'm joking!"

"You know, that might not be a bad idea," the older woman smirked. "The way you two have been circling each other like vultures, it's _gotta_ go down _sometime_," she chuckled.

"You're hopeless," Julie shook her head. "Anyway, I'm not about to play the good little soldier any more. I'll be back," she declared, grabbing her jacket and walking out.

"Good luck!"

Oh sure, R was trying to be good alright. But trying to obey John didn't mean he couldn't make sure Julie got back home safely when she showed up around lunch time! Julie had insisted that Nora was too busy with homework and could come with her to visit him so it was up to R to take her home. Well, in that case, R didn't really have a choice, did he? Stepping into Julie's room, after shifting his eyes around the house in mild paranoia, expecting John to pop out with a pistol, he relaxed and sat on the couch by the far all.

"Nice to see you both made it here in one piece _and_ without getting caught," Nora grinned.

"Ninja skills," Julie smiled back. She went over to where R had settled and smiled down at him. "Scoot," Julie motioned with her hand and nudged him until he was at the end. She shook her head at his confused expression before she gestured for him to move how she wanted him to, then settled between his legs, resting her back against his chest as his arms went around her.

"Well don't _you _two look cozy," Nora chirpped from her spot on Julie's bed, books and papers all around her.

"We are, thank you very much," Julie retorted with a cheeky smile.

"You know your dad would kill you both if he caught you, right?" Nora's brow lifted.

"We all have to die sometime," Julie shrugged. She was too warm and comfy in R's arms to care about anything right now. She smiled when he leaned a little closer into her, nuzzling her, cocooning her in his warmth. He smelled amazing and his soft heartbeat was such a wonderful sound. It was so nice that she almost felt like dozing off, lulled by the exquisite sensation of security and love. "So um, how are you feeling?" She asked, trying to stay awake.

"What do you mean?" R murmured. It seemed like he was starting to fall asleep too.

"How is your rehab going?" Julie clarified, snuggling closer to him.

"Gotta stay off them drugs, R," Nora muttered, mostly to herself. Mostly. She smirked in amusement when Julie heard her and rolled her eyes.

"Pretty good! I can run more every day," R beamed proudly.

"Hey, that's great!" Julie grinned back. A soft pitter-patter on Julie's window alerted them that it had begun to rain. Looking out her window, Julie suddenly got an outrageous idea. Sitting up, she turned to smile at her boyfriend. R gave her a confused look once again. Julie took his hand and compelled him to get up with her. "Come on, let's go for a walk!"

"...It's raining?" R mentioned, glancing outside. Just then it started raining just a little harder, as if emphasizing his statement.

"I know! Haven't you ever danced in the rain?" Julie countered.

"I... haven't danced since, ...you know," R shrugged nonchalantly. R couldn't remember dancing, actually. He had a _vague _impression somewhere in his mind that someone at some point in his life taught him... but he couldn't place when, where, or by whom. Maybe in time he might remember how. Maybe.

"It's an expression. Come on, it'll be fun! Please? A short walk, that's all!" Julie knew this would never work with her dad or her ex, but as soon as she stuck her lips out in a pout, she could see it in R's eyes that he had caved.

"Alright..." R sighed. He really couldn't say no to this girl. She had him wrapped around her little finger and he _liked _it. Julie slipped her hand in his and the two walked out. "What about your crutches?" R suddenly realized that Julie had been walking around without them since she went to get him.

"I haven't needed to use them this morning. My leg feels pretty good. It's fine, _right_ Nora?" Julie gave her friend a look.

Nora had changed Julie's bandage for her this morning and _had _seen very good improvement. "Go on and have fun, kiddies," she grinned. "Don't talk to strangers! And take your jackets!"

"...Thanks mother..." Julie rolled her eyes but grabbed both her's and R's jackets, tugging him with her again. It wasn't raining hard enough for it to be uncomfortable, and luckily not cold enough for them to really need their jackets for just a short walk. They each carried their jackets while walking toward one of the few fruit orchards of the city. They skirted around some buildings or tents, making sure none of Julie's father's men caught them. They weren't expecting to see her on her feet anyway, so with any luck, this wouldn't be too difficult. The orange field seemed unguarded at the moment, so they went in.

Julie turned then and smiled playfully at R, walking backwards and raising her brow challengingly before taking off. She wasn't running fast, and seemed to try to keep most of her weight off her injured leg, but it was a definite challenge. R smiled and took off after her. The two ran in the rain, laughing as they went, their jackets left and forgotten near the entrance.

They stopped a moment and Julie turned to see R standing with his arms out and his mouth open, catching rain in his mouth. Julie watched droplets of water escape him and run down his throat. Her eyes focused on a bead of water, following it along his lean neck. When R dropped his head back down to smile at her, Julie's lost her breath. The dull, late-afternoon sunshine was peaking through a crack in the overcast, blanketing R in gold and orange. The rain and light from the sun seemed to make his beautiful blue eyes pop out, darkening his gaze. She could see the emotions in his eyes as he watched her from his spot. Julie shivered, not exactly from the rain, but from the intensity of his gaze.

R stretched his arms out again, this time beckoning her to him. Julie readily complied and walked into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his middle. She could feel the contours of his body through their wet clothes, and by the sound of his quickened breath, she knew that he could feel _her _every curve as well. It was a shame that R was wearing such a dark color, though he was probably thinking the same thing. Even so, Julie laid a hand over his heart, feeling it beating wildly in his chest. She slid it down, tracing the soft curves of his developing muscles and wondered how far alone he was now. His new job was _certainly _helping to speed that up and she had a mind to go and thank Greg Adams personally.

It wasn't until they both shivered, and not exactly from how heated this moment was, that they realized that it was still raining quite a bit and they were standing soaked in the rain. When R took Julie by the hand and tugged her along with him, Julie was reminded once again of a scene quite like this, a month ago. Back then he was pulling her into an abandoned and undead overrun airport, toward his jet-house. Now he was again pulling her toward his home... this time things were different though. Neither of them said a word as R led them there. Julie felt her heart rate quicken, wondering just what he had in mind.

Could he..?

But no, that was crazy!

Surely he didn't want... _that_?

Right?

Julie scolded herself. R was too much of a gentleman to just take her to his apartment and have his way with her. No, she was getting herself worked up again for no reason. When they reached his apartment, glad everyone was still at work for now, Julie felt an odd mix of relief and disappointment when R handed her a towel. He smiled and took one for himself, rubbing his wet hair and arms from the rain. Julie did the same, shivering again, but this time it was from the rain again. She glanced down at her wet clothes. Well, this wouldn't do. Then she got another interested idea.

"Hey, R? Mind if I borrow some clothes? So I can put mine in the drier?" She asked with a grin.

"Sure..?" R blushed. The idea of Julie wearing his clothes appealed to him. Her 'scent' would be on them for a while, if he didn't wash them afterwards. It would be nice.

"Great!" Julie smiled. "Going to set these wet ones aside then." She didn't know what possessed her to do it, maybe she just wanted to see how he would react. Julie felt his eyes on her back as she pulled her wet shirt off in front of him, though her back was to him. This was not the first time she did this in front of him, but back then he was a mostly dead zombie. His eyes bore into her, she could almost feel the heat coming off them and felt herself for the first time blush while getting undressed in front of someone. She was planning to keep her bra and panties on of course, they weren't completely soaked, but it was still getting a bit hot in the room. Turning to glance over her shoulder at him, she had to grab hold of the closet door frame to steady herself. She had not been prepared of the look of _lust_ in his eyes.

Her knees nearly gave out then and there.

R noticed that she had caught him staring at her and blinked away his inappropriate thoughts, smiling weakly at her. "The um, red shirt might fit you better..." R muttered, turning to look away, giving her privacy. He swallowed thickly, trying to get a hold of himself. "It was one of my first shirts... it's a little tight on me," he shrugged, keeping his eyes trained outside of his window, his hands deep in his pocket to keep them still.

"...Thanks..." Julie answered in a soft voice. She pressed a hand over her heart, willing it to go back to a normal speed and turned to look for the shirt he suggested. Julie let out a shaky breath to calm herself down. "Let's see..." she muttered, trying to distract herself. She found the plain red t-shirt and pulled it out. It might have been tight on him, but it still looked way too big for her. It wasn't like she had a choice though. She pulled the hanger out and slipped it on. "I'll go get changed..." she mentioned, grabbing a pair of spare pants and headed into the bathroom. She idly wondered if she should have just changed in the bathroom in the first place... nah.

Julie got into the bathroom and took another breath to calm herself down, then looked at what she had to work with. The pants were way too long on her and would probably hang off her waist dangerously. Perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing though, she certainly enjoyed the looks he had been giving her lately. Putting them on, she rolled up the bottom of the pants and looked at herself in the mirror. She smirked, looking quite comical. She almost looked like a little girl trying on her daddy's clothes. Except not even her father was this tall. Staring into the mirror, her mind wandered over to the look R had just given her. Julie had seen R give her longing looks before, even a bit of desire in it like earlier, but never one this strong. She felt a shiver and bit her lip. When she had first met him, besides being a zombie, he had first appeared to be kind of a dork... but with everything that they had gone through, something had changed in him, matured him maybe. Whatever it was, it was far too attractive. And maybe she had misjudged him from the get go?

Exiting the bathroom, she found R straightening a new shirt he must have changed into. He had new pants on too and looked like he must have combed his hair a bit, since he had ruffled it when he dried it with a towel. Julie shook her head at the disappointment she felt then. It would have been nice to see R change into _his _clothes too, or at least take his wet ones _off_. She sighed inwardly, wondering when she had become such a pervert and smiled at him. "Come on, I think dad said this place had a laundry room, it should be empty at this hour, right?"

"Yeah," R agreed. The two went downstairs in silence, both keenly aware of the empty halls and small and also very empty laundry room. After placing the clothes in the drier, Julie felt R's hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw that look in his eyes again. She bit her lip and smiled up at him, readily accepting the kiss as he leaned in. Their tongues dueled and they began to lose themselves in the moment. A sharp beep made them both jump and Julie jerked her attention to the drier. She had set it for a minute instead of an hour... whoops. Blushing in embarrassment, Julie extricated herself from R's arms and reset the timer.

R led Julie back to his apartment to wait for their clothes. Once back inside, they sat on the new rug Nora had found for him a few days ago, talking. The tension was ripe in the air but neither made a move to 'reconnect' like they had in the laundry room. It wasn't like the moment was lost, oh no, perhaps they were pacing themselves. Perhaps they were seeing how long they could go without touching. So far it was a strain for both of them. "Nora told me that some of the doctors were handing out vitamins. Looks like dad finally approved of a scavenger hunt into one of the nearby clinics. Did Martinez give you one?" Julie asked curiously.

"Yes," R nodded. "It's been helping the occasional cramps I sometimes still get," he smiled happily.

"You still get them?" Julie frowned in concern.

"Only sometimes," R shrugged. "Mostly during work."

"Ah yes, construction," Julie grinned. "I think it's doing you a lot of good! You're starting to develop a really nice tan," she beamed. "You're look'n pretty good," she winked at him.

R averted his gaze shyly, then looked back up and smiled softly at her. "And you're looking more beautiful every day," he told her. "I... I always thought that, since I first saw you in that clinic..." he admitted. "I've... been in love with you even since then, I think... even when my instincts told me you were food..."

Julie remained silent for a moment. This was the second time he told her that he loved her, and it still floored her to hear it. Choked on emotions, she smiled a little misty-eyed at him. "R... why did you change? What made you so different than the rest?" She asked carefully.

R thought for a moment. Would it still upset her if he spoke about what he had done to Perry? Would she love him any less? "I... well, I guess you can say Perry helped me a lot..." he murmured.

"What do you mean?" Julie frowned in confusion.

"Somehow, a part of Perry must have still lived inside of me, guiding me from the inside to change..." R told her his theory. "It's hard to explain, it's as if I absorbed more than just his memories," he shook his head, trying to put his thoughts to words. "I never actually heard him speak to me, but a part of me could feel him working inside me," he sighed, he didn't feel like he was making any sense. Looking up his heart clenched at the tears in Julie's eyes. "I-I'm sorry! I shouldn't have-"

"No, no it's okay," Julie shook her head, stopping him from apologizing and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm happy," she admitted with a tearful smile.

"Happy? Really?" R felt enormously confused.

"Yes! It means that, the part of Perry that I had loved, lived in you, he hadn't actually left... he helped you heal and gave you a wonderful gift," Julie explained. "He... sacrificed himself in a way, I guess," she added. "He did his part in healing the world, by healing _you_," she grinned.

"I guess you could say that," R smiled back. He reached over and very carefully wiped her tears away. "Don't cry..." he muttered in a very similar way he had said a month ago. Julie laughed in response and leaned in to kiss him. R relaxed, relieved that she wasn't upset.

"_There _you two are!"

Julie and R jumped apart once again and turned to see Nora standing there with a very knowing look in her eyes. "I didn't think a 'short walk' would take two hours," Nora's brow rose, even as a very amused smile threatened to break her challenging expression. Had they been gone that long, really? Time really did fly. Then Nora noticed something odd. "Hold up! Jules? What are you wearing..? Is that... is that R's shirt? And _pants_? My my! Weren't _you_ two busy!" She grinned widely. "R, you dog!"

"Nora! Nothing happened," Julie rolled her eyes, but couldn't help blushing. "We had a nice walk in the rain, then went to R's apartment to get out of said rain. He let me change into this so I could dry mine..." she explained.

"Uh-huh, sure," Nora nodded faking belief, then laughed at her friend's annoyed expression and R's embarrassed one. "Well anyway, I'm not about to run back to the house while it's still raining. I guess you two will have to hold off on hanky-panky for a bit longer!"

"_Nora_..." Julie warned.

"Just say'n!" Nora shrugged and sat down with them. "So! What's fun around here? Got any cards, R?"

"Probably in one of those boxes," R pointed to a pile in the far corner of the living room.

"You're such a hoarder..." Julie sighed, then shot him an affectionate smile.

"Ugh, I really don't want to dig through that," Nora frowned thoughtfully. "I know! We could play a game," she suddenly said, her eyes lighting up.

"...What _kind_ of game..." Julie asked suspiciously.

"I dunno? Truth or dare? Spin the bottle? Twenty questions? Beer pong?" Nora shrugged. "Take your pick!"

"We don't have beer, or bottles for that matter," Julie shot down those ideas.

"What about truth or dare?" Nora grinned mischievously.

"I think that'd be too dangerous to play with you," Julie narrowed her eyes playfully.

"Aw come on! I'll be good, I promise!" Nora laughed.

"Truth or... dare?" R frowned. That sounded vaguely familiar, but he could quite place it.

"Sure! You know, ask a person a question, if it's your turn. They have to answer it truthfully but they can opt not to answer it and instead do a dare of your choosing," Nora explained. "It's fun!"

"...It sounds kind of invasive," R shrugged.

"No no, it's only as much as you want it to be. I'll prove it! Here, truth or dare, Jules!" Nora beamed at her friend who rolled her eyes. Sometimes Nora seemed much younger than her, less mature at least at times. She had her moments though. Nora could be very motherly and serious when she needed to be.

"Truth..." Julie sighed.

"We'll start with something simple. Tell me the truth, you thought R was cute when you first laid eyes on him, didn't you?" Nora grinned deviously.

"_Please_ explain to me _how _that's a _simple _question?" Julie growled, though one could see the amusement in her eyes.

"Oh come on, Jules!" Nora begged.

"You're not doing a good job at convincing R to play, this way..." Julie muttered.

"And _you're _avoiding the question," Nora stuck her tongue out childishly.

"..." Julie glanced over at R and could see that even though he was fighting it, his eyes told her how curious he was as well. "Ugh, okay fine... um, well," Julie fidgeted, staring at the rug. "I guess if, you know, he had been- uh, cleaned up a bit? I dunno maybe... –ugh! Nora! What an impossible question!" Julie fell onto her back and pulled the pillow she held over her face, hiding her fluster. "At the moment I was just worried he was going to eat me," was her mumbled supplement. "And before you say anything, R, I _know _that you would never," she added quickly after, sensing that he was about to explode.

"Damn right," R muttered.

"Alright-alright," Nora laughed. "See R, that was an example of a _difficult_ question," she grinned cheekily.

"I have one for _you _Nora," Julie suddenly sat up and her eyes narrowed at her friend.

"Yes?" Nora waited patiently.

Julie sat there a moment before she shook her head. "...Actually, no I pretty much know everything about you," Julie sighed in defeat.

"Why don't we let R try?" Nora's brow popped up thoughtfully. "Go on, R, ask either of us a question! Just ask for truth or dare and we'll let you know!"

"Okay... Julie," he smiled shyly at his girlfriend.

"Shocker!" Nora smirked.

"Truth or dare?" R waited patiently.

Julie looked at him for a moment. Trying to decide what would be more beneficial. "Dare..." She smiled.

"Um," R blinked, he hadn't been expecting a dare. The problem was, he couldn't think of anything. He didn't want to make her do anything she didn't want to. So what could he say? "...Kiss me," He finally said.

"Oh that's easy," Julie chuckled and crawled over to him. R sat still, waiting as Julie settled herself in front of him, then let his eyes slide shut as she pressed her lips to his. Maybe it was because Nora was in the room, but Julie pulled back seconds later, giving him a playful look.

R gave _her_ an incredulous look before shaking his head. He pulled her closer, until she was on his lap. "No. Give me a _real _kiss..." he demanded softly, his eyes a shade darker. Julie shivered for the umpteenth time that day, drawn like a moth to the flame. How could she possibly resist his request?

Nora watched in surprise as Julie suddenly all but attacked R's mouth. What surprised her more was how enthusiastic R kissed her back. God, did that boy know how to kiss! R's fingers tangled in Julie's hair as he worked his mouth against her's. Nora felt slightly envious of Julie, not exactly because she had R, but because she had someone and Nora still couldn't get a guy who wasn't a complete asshole.

"Alright you guys, you can come back up for oxygen now! It's starting to get uncomfortable over here," Nora teased, laughing softly at their widening eyes as they pulled back. Evidently, they forgot that Nora was in the room. "Really R? Is that the best you can come up with?" R gave her a sheepish smile. "You guys are _so _boring..." Nora sighed. Thankfully, her boredom didn't last very long. A knock on the door was heard. R pulled himself away from Julie and went to answer the door. He was surprised and a little worried when he saw John standing there.

"R, have you seen- Julie? What-" John paused and frowned when Julie appeared next to the tall young man. However, his angry reprimand was cut short when another voice spoke.

"_Hi_ Mr. Grigio!" Nora's tone was cheery and sing-song as she poked her head through the door.

"Julie?" John frowned at his daughter, waiting an explanation.

"Before you blow a gasket dad, I went over to R's apartment on my own, it was no one else's fault, okay?" Julie explained.

John's eyes narrowed and he regarded R and his daughter a moment. Somehow, he knew his daughter spoke the truth. He knew R's determination to prove himself in his and everyone else's eyes, and knew the boy wouldn't intentionally try to upset him, so he nodded, accepting her explanation. John had a mind to reprimand her for disobeying him, but it was really foolish of him to think he could control her. Besides, as much as he hated to admit it, she _was _an adult now. Sighing in resignation he regarded them for a moment. "Alright," he began. "In that case, the three of you better get yourselves ready for dinner and be at the house in ten," he insisted, then turn and left them. There was a long pause and the three friends glanced at each other in wonder.

"Is it just me, or is your dad so much cooler these days than ever before?" Nora raised a brow at Julie.

"He _has_ been pretty cool lately," Julie grinned. And so, after grabbing the dry clothes, the three made their way back to Julie's house, relieved that it had finally stopped raining, just on time. They helped prepare the meal and then sat down to enjoy it.

John stayed silent mostly, watching the youths around the table. They teased each other, laughing and talking high spirited. It was as if they hadn't a care in the world, as if the apocalypse never happened, as if the dead hadn't risen up and made life a nightmare. Things were changing everywhere, people were being reborn, loved ones were being reunited. John felt something inside him stir at the happy and carefree scene. He hadn't felt this at peace since... well, actually, he couldn't remember the last time he felt so much tranquility. He knew that once they let more former zombies in and tear down the walls, hope and happiness would once again flourish in the world. God, to be alive in this age, when he could see his daughter grow up in a safe and happy world...

Julie glanced up from laughing at another ridiculous comment Nora made and saw something very interesting. Her father had an uncharacteristically wide smile on his usually grumpy face. His chin was resting on his palm and he was just watching them. Julie beamed back at him, he smiled back and suddenly everything was perfect in the world.

_TBC..._

* * *

**A/N:** The end...

NONO! I'M JUST KIDDING! LOL! I had you for a moment, didn't I? Another freakishly long chapter! Woo! Things are starting to get a little steamy between them, isn't it? Haha! This chapter was very fun to write. By the way, yes I know in the movie R and Perry have barely any interaction at all, but in the book, Perry was very important, he helped R change too, being in his subconscious until the end... I wanted to kind of blend the book and the movie a bit. I'm sorry if that confused anyone.

Was listening to Jakalope - "Feel It" for the mid-part of this chapter...

Shout-Outs:

**Gembomz:** Lol thanks! When I'm being _lazy _I'll update regularly...

**Don'tBeCreepy:** Aww! Thank you! Makes me happy to hear! :D Oh and sorry I had to change your username, too lol.

**batgirl147:** You're too funny! Happy you enjoyed it!

**No One:** You are most welcome! Oh! I see, yes it was intentional. To tell you the truth, I'm kind of starting to get attached to John too lol.

**Girl In RandomLand:** Lol you're so messed up, but that's okay, in a really bizarre way, it's endearing.. LOL! ...You might get your wish...

**MaddiegreeN:** Aww, thank you! I know how you feel and I wish I had the material and stamina to write this for years! But alas, all good things come to an end... fortunately, not anytime soon, I can tell you that much lol.

**allthefeelsallofthem:** Thanks! I was worried it was starting to drag on lol...

**Fang-delight:** Yeah! I even 'had' to watch the movie twice, just so I could study his character more that is... of course... lol! XD

**hermione321:** Fortunately for you, I spoil you guys so freaking much you don't have to wait for long lol!

**KryptoniteBoy:** Thanks a bunch! :D

**4MeJasper:** Ya gotta love progress!

**AhhMyLife:** I dunno if I would call it "fluff" but yeah lol

**bonesbemmettlover:** I'm happy you found it!


	13. Chapter 13

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

_And I descend from grace  
In arms of undertow  
I will take my place  
In the great below  
_

_I can still feel you  
Even so far away_

~ Nine Inch Nails - The Great Below

* * *

_Her hands twisted around the sheets beneath her. _

_His unyielding body pressed tight against her's._

_Her own body arched off the bed. "R..!" _

_His hands tuned her body like an instrument._

_Opening her eyes from the stupor of pleasure, her eyes met his._

_Her name, spoken in such a tender way. _

"_Julie..." R's unwavering gaze bore down on her as intensely as his body did._

_It was all she could do to keep it together._

Julie shot up from bed, her heart hammering in her chest and sheets tangled around her. "..._Whoa_..." she gasped, taking a breath to calm herself. That wasn't exactly the first time she had a dream of him. It _was _however the first time she had had such an erotic one of him. It was odd though because she had spent so much time with him already and every day she felt closer and closer to him. Why hadn't she had a dream like that before? Maybe it had something to do with how much stronger their greetings and goodbyes were? Every day it seemed R struggled a little more to let her go. Letting out another shaky breath, Julie pushed off her bed and tested her leg on the soft carpet beneath her bed. So far so good, no unbearable pain when she rested her weight on it, but she would still have to be careful. As she prepared for the day, her mind drifted to her dream. Her thoughts trapped by the reoccurring vision of long, strong limbs and warm flesh.

She _really_ needed to get a grip!

Fortunately, a loud commotion outside distracted her. She got up from her make-shift vanity and went to her window. Outside were several armed soldiers running somewhere. People were standing to the side, holding each other and even from that distance, Julie could tell they were scared. What was going on? She hurriedly got dressed and made her way out as fast as she could. She had forgotten her crutches but she didn't care. She would hop to the center if she had to. Getting passed security and dodging soldiers who gave her an odd look, probably wondering why _she _wasn't geared for whatever this was, she made it to the center of the large warehouse building used as main operations. She spotted her father talking to Rosso and limped her way over.

"Julie, what are you doing here?" John asked, giving his second in a command a nod. Rosso stopped by Julie and gave her a quick hug before disappearing outside and barking orders. "Where are your crutches? Shouldn't you be-"

"Dad, I'm not a child anymore. What's going on?" Julie interrupted.

"Call this deja vu if you like, but we just got a report of another group of Boneys headed this way," John explained. "We're going to go meet them out there this time, not let them get into the city again. I need to get back to preparing, _don't _do anything foolish," John warned her, pointing at her leg as emphases. He left before Julie could snap at him. Julie frowned in frustration. Again she wasn't trusted on her feet for something important.

"Julie?"

Julie turned then and saw R and M walking toward her, both geared up for battle. "What..? You two are going?"

"A lot of us are going," M answered, pointing to another group of men at the far end of the warehouse. Julie turned to see what he was pointing at. They were former zombies alright, armed and geared for battle as well, being given a quick run-down on how to use a rifle by one of her dad's men. Some of them looked about as healed as M did, which was pretty far along, but some still looked a bit... ripe. Even so, they all paid close attention and held their weapons like the rest of them. They would do fine. Julie looked back at M and saw the look of determination in his face. "We'll do our best to protect the city, make up... for what we've done to you," he promised her. His eyes widened slightly when Julie suddenly wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"I know you will! Thank you," she told him, then pulled away.

"Don't worry, I'll look out for R, I al...ways do," M smirked, slapping R's shoulder comradely, then nodded and left them alone.

"We'll be fine," R insisted, holding her close when she walked into his arms.

"I understand M, but R, are you sure...?" Julie frowned in concern. It had only been a day and a half since he had been threatened. Now he was willingly putting himself in danger again? R shrugged, not really knowing how to answer. It would be a lie to say he wasn't still uneasy, but he had a job to do. After a minute of studying him, Julie sighed. "I should be going too," she muttered in frustration.

R shook his head. "No, you'll just distract me," he teased weakly, chuckling softly when she smacked him lightly in retaliation. "Anyway, this way I can make sure you're safe... I still intend on keeping you safe," his arms tightened around her again.

"I know, but one of these days, my leg isn't going to stop me from looking for trouble," she warned him.

"I know," R muttered.

Being this close to him, feeling him all around her, reminded Julie a little of her dream. She tried not to listen to her recently more perverted thoughts and pushed the images out of her head. This was _no _time to be thinking of... of his body that way, no matter how good he felt so close to her's. "Just _be careful_, okay?" Julie pulled away to give him a serious look. "Don't be a hero."

"I... can't promise you that. I can promise you I'll try my best to stay alive though," R answered.

There was a pause and Julie searched his eyes. "...Good enough, I guess," she shrugged.

"I lo-"

"Don't!" Julie suddenly hugged him tight, hiding her face in his kevlar. "Don't say it, it- it's what people say when they think they're not coming back, right? Tell me it when you come back, but not now. No goodbyes, no I- I love you's. None of that, okay?" Julie hated how weak she sounded just then, but weak was how she felt when she was forced to stay behind. Forced to let people do the protecting without her. She knew she was as tough a soldier as the rest of them.

"...Okay," R nodded slowly. "In that case," R pulled her away gently once more. "I'll see you later," he smiled weakly.

"Yeah, see ya..." Julie said softly and watched him leave with an uneasy feeling. Collecting her nerve again, she turned and walked back into the city, intending on finding Nora to get her to help her from going insane.

The large group of twenty or so men, women, and former zombies marched quickly and steadily toward the coordinates where the Boneys had last been seen. They didn't take vehicles for several reason. The foremost being that fuel was beginning to be very difficult to acquire, for now anyway. R walked silently next to M, who, like a lot of the other former zombies, found it a little surreal to be walking next to so many former food sources. So many people M had at one time hunted, he now sought to protect and aid. The faces of his people around him told him that they were thinking much the same. Perhaps it would be best to stop referring them as 'his people' though, they were all people now. When all of this was said and done, they would hopefully become one community again. Like it had been before all of this.

R glanced at his friend, nudging him with his elbow. "You okay?" He asked him.

"Isn't that my line?" M smiled at the younger man.

"...So? R waited an answer.

"Oh, I'm fine," M smiled again. "I'm just absorbing the change..."

"What do you mean?" R frowned, confused.

M carefully stepped over a fallen parking meter and shrugged. "Look around you. Have you ever seen... so many former dead, so freely walking along... so many of the General's people? Without getting... shot?"

R took a moment to glance around him and nodded in agreement. "It is pretty amazing," R agreed. "It's a good sign," he smiled.

"It is," M grinned back.

It took them three hours to get to the half-way point and already there were starting to see signs of conflict. It looked like some Boneys had been near, because they were sure zombies didn't mangle and kill people just to kill. Not but a few of the bodies they found were eaten. The gore was too messy, too erratic. Not to mention there weren't so many brain-dead zombies anymore. There still _were_ some, of course, but the chances of finding one around here now was few and far between. "Something doesn't feel right about this..." one of the soldiers muttered. There was also clear signs of gun fire, even a few fires here and there from molotov cocktails.

This battle was recent.

Stepping over the carnage, the group made their way further in, tension high and rifles gripped tighter. "Shit. Shit. Shit..." One of the teenagers nearby started muttering under his breath. The group was spooked at the silence in the streets, save for the crackle of fires around them. Other sounds put them on edge just as much though. The creaking of doors, the groaning of metal from the skeletal remains of buildings and battered cars... and of course the ominous wind, picking up debris from the ground, making it dance around them like a morbid waltz. The overcast didn't help much either, but at least it kept the glare from the sunshine from bothering them.

R had been preparing himself for a horde of Boneys to come leaping from the dark windows of the cracking buildings, or from the sewer-drains or where ever they were hiding. He had _not _expecting gun-fire. "Check your fire! Where are the hostiles?" John yelled, thinking one of his men had fired the shot.

"That wasn't any of us, Sir!" A nameless soldier from somewhere in the group answered. More shots were heard and R was shocked when one of the people near him, the frightened teenager from before, fell to the ground with a bullet in his head.

"Hostile humans!" Another soldier yelled.

"Scatter! Take cover!" John yelled, grabbing R roughly by the collar of his shirt as more shot rang. He heard and almost felt a bullet fly by his ear as he stumbled from John's shove. There was no time to marvel at the idea that John Grigio had just saved R's head from being blown to bits. All around the men and women, living and half-zombie alike, ran off in different directions, avoiding fire and trying to figure out who was firing at them and from where. "Well shit, it's the 'Purists' John grumbled near R. He must have recognized one of the enemy. "Stay here, R. Take cover," John muttered to him and, while keeping low to the ground, made his way as quickly to one of his fallen soldiers as he could.

Then everyone heard horrible, unnatural and terrifying screams from around them.

"They're here!" Someone shouted.

The Boneys had once again set up an ambush.

More human-like screams followed the Boneys' initial battlecry, and R could now see the Purists as they ran from their cover into the open street. Even as the small group of attackers ran away from the Boneys, they continued to fire on _them_. "Stop! We can team up against the-" John's suggestion was rejected when one of the Purists shot toward him. John dodged the attack, hiding behind a wrecked white sedan. Or, it would have been white if it wasn't covered in dirt, blood, and burn marks.

"Kid! Eight o'clock!" Someone somewhere close to R had yelled, but at the moment, he was too busy fighting off a Boney who had dropped on top of the fallen wall that he had hidden behind. The Boneys were coming from all directions now. There were dozens of them maybe, though perhaps not nearly as many as there had been when they attacked the city. R had no idea what the person who yelled at him was talking about. He was pretty sure it mid-to-late afternoon at the moment, it was far too light outside for it to be eight. Unless he meant...? R had a flash of memory nearly distract him from desperately trying to dodge the horrible creature's attacks. He couldn't focus on that right now.

R had just finished bashing a Boney's head in with the end of his shotgun when he felt a sharp sting behind his knee. Right, eight o'clock was somewhere behind him. His leg buckled and he went down. Fortunately, dropping down as quickly as he had, made him just miss what looked like a baseball bat swinging above his head. Rolling around onto his back, he noticed a man standing menacingly over him. One of the Purists must have flanked them. The man didn't waste any time and the second sharp pain R felt was a swift kick to the ribs. R groaned in pain but managed to jerk away from the wooden stick aimed at his head a second time. He could hear horrible screeches nearby and knew a Boney was nearby. Twisting his body to curl around the man's legs, he held him in place, silently begging for forgiveness.

"Begging won't help you, freak!" The man spat, ironically misunderstanding R's motion as a plea for mercy, not having known that R had just made a different plea. "Get up!" The man jerked his leg, simultaneously kicking R in the stomach while trying to get free. The only reason the kick didn't do much to R this time was because of how firm his hold was. "The fuck are you doing?! Let g- NO! SHIT! LET GO!" The man must have spotted the Boney headed toward them. This was horrible. R would have preferred that _no one_ died, even this man that had tried to beat him to death. No one deserved such an awful death. R knew this from experience, from being one of the monsters that fed on human flesh. R tightened his grip, feeling tears on his cheeks. Not of pain, but remorse for he was about to do. He saw two pairs of Boney legs nearby and then very human screams.

R rolled away, choking on grief and frantically wiping off the man's warm blood that splashed onto his face. He crawled toward where he had lost his weapon when the man attacked him. He grabbed it quickly, rolling back around and trying to crawl back as far as he could, avoiding ordinance from grenades and crossfire, not to mentioned the violent claws of the skeletal monsters. Pain and fear blurred his vision slightly but he managed to kick an attacking Boney away before blasting it in the back. That didn't deter the Boney, but it did distract it for a moment. R forced himself on his feet and slammed into the Boney. Once the horror was down, he shot it in the head. Gasping for breath, he turned to see the other two Boneys feasting on the man that had attacked him earlier. He aimed his weapon at them and managed to shoot one in the head.

The other Boney glared up at him and screamed in fury. R tried to reload his weapon but his panic was making him make stupid and costly mistakes, his hands shaking in fear as they clumsily tried to find the right slot for the shell. Just as the Boney was poised to attack, it's head was blown to bits, foul black blood covering him. Fortunately, he wasn't the only one nearby. R looked over and saw an unfamiliar soldier nod to him, before returning to the fight. R breathed a sigh of relief and loaded his weapon. R couldn't remember a time when he had been more afraid. Maybe when Julie had been surrounded by zombies that time at the airport. He had felt sheer terror for the first time since he died. But back then he knew he could save her, he knew that nothing could really hurt _him_. Now was different. He was _vulnerable _as a human. He could be killed easier.

R crawled toward where John and another unfamiliar soldier was taking cover behind the desolate car and slid up against it with them. Without looking toward him, John dug into one of his pouches on his kevlar, took out a clip of ammo, and handed it to R. R took the ammo, dropping it and cursing his still shaking hands. Looking over the protected hood of that car while he stuffed the ammo in his pocket, he saw that a lot of the Purists were dying. Their enemy had chosen a smaller group to attack, thinking they could sneak in and hide easier, not knowing how crafty the Boneys were. In the hands of a capable leader, that might have worked better, but those men were all a rag-tag team of amateurs.

Movement from the corner of his eye alerted R of a Boney running toward them at full speed. R steeled himself, whirled around and shot the Boney at nearly point blank, the force of the shot, suddenly pushing him against the cold metal of the car behind him. R clutched the back of his head, wincing. It wasn't a strong push, but it had bumped his head against the car and it ached. He blinked up, refocusing on his surroundings and tried to make out where M was, worried about his friend, but he didn't see him nearby. R was relieved when he heard his familiar voice speak. "Last of the living.. down!" M yelled from somewhere on the other side of the street, still using familiar terms to him in still unfamiliar circumstances. The rest of the group understood well enough though.

"Regroup! Form on me!" John yelled, ordering the rest of his troop to form up. They could much better fight the remaining Boneys in a tight circle, where they could fire at all angles. The men and women ran back toward R, avoiding Boneys for the most part, and circled in together. A lot of the former zombies needed to be shown what to do, much like R had to be at first too. Together, they held their ground and fired on the skeletal horrors. The Boneys might have been crafty, but they were still driven by instinct. They did not care if their prey tried to hide from them, stood out in the open, or huddled together. Food was food.

Their mistake.

Several Boneys at a time fell to superior minds and weapons. When the last monster had fallen, the group seemed to freeze, holding still, staring in all directions as if waiting for another wave to come. When no one or nothing else moved, they began to relax. People eased away from the tight circle, mourning fallen friends and family, both on their side and the Purists. There were a lot of people who lost friends and family when the survivors split up. The soldiers began to drop their guard, at least as much as the horrors of the world would allow them.

R felt his knees give out from physical and emotional exhaust. This battle had only taken maybe an hour or two, but it felt like it had taken days. He had not seen this much pain and death since... his shook his head to clear it. He sat on a piece of fallen mortar from one of the nearby buildings and took a deep breath to try to relax. A voice from somewhere nearby spoke to him. "How are you holding up, son?" R picked up his head to look at John

"I'm... I could be worse," R shrugged weakly. R was about to say that he was fine, a habitual response. But he was _not_ fine.

John said nothing for a moment, just nodded in understanding. "Welcome to the world of survivors," the older man smirked. "Get used to it, son."

R nodded slowly. "Yes, Sir..." he murmured, dropping his head again, rubbing his neck wearily.

"...John."

"What?" R looked back up, confused.

"...Call me... John," the older man told him. "You... don't need to call me 'Sir' all the time, alright?"

R was stunned. "I-" he was about to answer when he noticed movement from one of the fallen enemy. Zombie? But no, this man didn't look dead. At least not yet.

"F-Fuck you, bastard!" The man coughed up blood as he weakly aimed his gun at John's head... or trying to anyway.

R forced himself back onto his feet. "_Look out_!" He shouted, pushing John out of the way.

"You!" The man spat, just then noticing R. "It's all... y-your fault!" The man aimed his weapon at R this time. "Die, corpse!" Even though R had a bit more training with weapons since this morning, had fired his shotgun many times already, he froze in fear. Time seemed to slow down. Unwanted memories of the other day springing to mind. The feeling of helplessness, of cold dread and looming death.

"R! Get outta the way!" John shouted. R had shoved him out of the way, unintentionally making him stumble to the ground. Maybe he was getting too old. Maybe he was too tired of all of this. Whatever it was...

He didn't make it to R on time.

BANG!

The sound of gunfire went off.

From there, everything sped up again.

R felt the bullet connect with him. He wasn't sure if it went inside him or simply brushed against him. Either way, the pain, shock, and force of the shot made his body jerk back in a very familiar way. This time R stumbled, his mouth agape in shock as his hand clutched his bleeding, burning wound. He looked at his bloody hand in disbelief and fell.

"R!" John yelled. He shot to his feet, ignoring his protesting, exhausted body, and cocked his pistol. He didn't hesitate a second, putting a bullet in the head of the man who shot R. He cursed at himself for not having been quick enough to pull the boy down and out of harm's way... If the boy didn't make it, he couldn't even begin to imagine how much of a living hell his daughter would make his life.

...Not to mention how much he'd be hating _himself_.

Elsewhere, Julie Grigio dropped a plate she had been taking to the table, watching without actually seeing it as it shattered across the floor. "...What..."

"Julie? What happened?" Nora asked in concern, looking over to her from her spot at the dining room.

"I... I don't know, I just got this bad feeling," Julie shook her head.

Nora said nothing for a few minutes and just stared at her friend worriedly. "...About the Boneys?" She questioned quietly.

"I don't know," Julie frowned. She had suddenly felt sharp anxiety make her heart race and stomach churn, and she had no idea why. "R..." she muttered to herself. "Come home soon..." she silently begged.

_TBC..._

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**A/N:** Yeah, this last part was cruel of me, but hey! Sometimes a good cliffhanger is fun... at least, it's very fun to write! XD! Sexy dream, eh? Sorry it wasn't so detailed... you perverts... lol! Another kind of gruesome couple scenes in here, sorry about that, had to be done! This chapter was a lot of fun to write, not only because of the dread and action, but because I got to show how _not well _R still is. He wouldn't just recover and be immune to the horrors of the world, you know? He's vulnerable now, and I wanted to show that.

You guys, "The Great Below" by NIN, is the _perfect_ song for most of this chapter... seriously.

(Lots of freaking) Shout-Outs:

**Reader1352:** Well, I'm happy to see you here and I'm glad you like it!

**MaddiegreeN:** Yesss, it certainly _is_ getting steamy... or it _was_..? Muahahah... I am evil!

**haloedmoon:** Still can't wait? XD

**OmatikayaClan:** I find it really amusing how many of you are asking for that lol jeez. Bunch of perverts! HAHAHA! I'm just kidding! Maybe you'll get your wish, who knows!

**brigid1318:** The more people ask for _that_ in reviews lately, the more I laugh. It's just amazing lol. Alright already, I get the picture! Lol!

**coadhpgg:** Ahahaha! Got you!

**KarahKoala99:** Thank you so much! I most certainly intend to!

**warmbodies1d:** I'm happy you thought it was funny! I was hoping it would be :)

**ToLazyToLogIn:** LOL! I love your "username" that's too funny. I'm happy you're enjoying it!

**loverandafighter:** Thanks! Glad you like my interpretation of him!

**Girl In RandomLand:** Lol, omg you're too much! Well now, I hope you enjoyed this chapter lol...

**lovelyloupus:** I think you meant "Lonely Boy" and I've had that song for a long time, far before the movie lol. It doesn't fit what I'm writing though. Too much action and activity in that song. This chapter in particular is supposed to be dark and foreboding, which Nine Inch Nails does great!

**AnthonyC22:** Looks like your instincts were right! :P

**KryptoniteBoy:** Thank you! Yeah I base her on the book more.

**bonesbemmettlover:** I certainly hope you liked this one too :P

**jmor:** Aww thank you! I agree, I _AM _awesome... hahaha I'm just kidding! Thank you, I write mostly for the entertainment of my readers :D

**batgirl147:** LOL! Lmao! Thanks for being a diehard fan! :D It sounds like you might need some rehab too lol!

**hermione321:** Aww, you're quite welcome!

**No One:** Like I said in the very first chapter. I read the book (a few times) before I saw the movie lol I know about John, and it's one of the reasons why I chose to base my story on the movie. Thanks :D

**Fang-delight:** I know, right?

**Gembomz:** You're very welcome!


	14. Chapter 14

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

**Suprise chapter! Because I love you all!**

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Thick, suffocating, black smoke populated the street air. The wide gaping maw of the ruined city surrounded them, watching them closely. All around them were small craters, fire, outer-casing of ammunition, blood, and mangled, fallen bodies – foe _and _friend. It looked very much like a full-scale war-zone. A heavy silence bore onto the group, about as much as their own pain and blood.

"R!" John rushed over to the fallen young man and knelt by him. R lay against the car limply, his eyes wide and blood running down his arm. "R?" John probed as gently as he could, trying to reach the boy. It took him a few minutes to respond, but he finally did.

"I...I'm... I-I'm okay..." R told him quietly, recovering from his shock. This wasn't the first time he got shot, but he hadn't seen it coming the first time. This time he had seen the barrel of the gun pointed at him, had seen the murder in the eyes of his attacker. His only thought at that moment was he would never see Julie again, that all of it, breaking away from his curse, keeping her safe, falling in love with her... it would be for nothing. R jerked, startled when John's hand pressed against his wound.

"Stay still," John commanded, checking over his shoulder. He wasn't a medic or anything but he knew enough, and they had lost theirs during the fight anyway. Besides, he wanted to personally make sure the young man wouldn't die. "Looks like the bullet grazed your arm, nicked you pretty good," John inwardly sighed in relief. "You'll be fine. Just hold your hand against it."

"Thank you..." R nodded, going back to clutching his warm and sticky shoulder.

"What in God's name got into your head, boy?" John threw his arms up in exasperation. "That was a damn reckless stunt you pulled," he frowned. Maybe he was being a little harsher than he should have been. He _had _just saved his life, after all. But John was old and R had his whole future ahead of him.

R smiled weakly, glancing over to where M stood nearby, keeping vigilant. His old friend was also sporting a serious expression. "Is it really reckless for wanting to keep the father of the... woman I love... alive and well?" He questioned, giving John a challenging look. For the most part, John continued to just stare at him with a grim expression. After a few minutes though, R was relieved when John simply nodded in acceptance and put his hand out. R took the older man's hand and was hoisted back onto his feet. He winced, his arm burning slightly from the sensation. For a simple graze, his blood certainly seemed to enjoy flowing like a river.

"Does anyone have any spare-" John's question was cut off.

"I have gauze, Sir!" A soldier ran over, digging in his pockets for the bandage. "Here you go," he readily handed it over. He caught R's gaze and nodded to him, a look of respect in his eyes. There were more men and women being tended to of course, but there was enough of it at least. John took the bandage and wrapped it around R's arm tightly, ignoring his pained expression. At least he didn't make such a big deal about it, took it like a man. John respected that.

"Alright," John looked around the area, frowning at the sight of so many dead men and women. So many people who needlessly died for something as stupid as a disagreement. "Check the bodies for anything we can use and form up again. We're getting the fuck out of here," he ordered his soldiers.

It was gruesome work, digging through the bodies of fallen people, but in this world they lived in, they couldn't afford to waste _any _resources. Scavenging had been branded into them since the start of all of this, even before zombies started appearing. The world had been spiraling down the drain far before the apocalypse happened. John hoped dearly that now that there was so much good change happening, that the world would rise up out of it's ashes, start over. He prayed to God humanity would learn from it's mistakes this time. But how many times had they had that opportunity already?

After they had gathered what they could, they began the long trek back home. All around him, R could see people, former zombies and survivors, helping each other along, lending a hand, carrying one another. Bonding. There seemed to be a stronger change among the former zombies then. Their eyes seemed clearer, despite how exhausted they too were. This experience in helping each other in the face of adversity, had triggered a faster rate of healing. "Do you see it?" R mentioned to John after a moment.

"What?" The older man asked.

"Look at their faces, can you tell the difference?" R pointed to the group of people around them.

"...No? So what?" John felt confused. What was he getting at.

"Exactly. We're all the same now... I don't think we're 'former' anything anymore, do you?" R asked.

John stopped and glanced around them again, then at R's limping form. R was beyond tired and covered in blood and dirt, but he no longer looked like what he once was. He was no longer skin and bones. His face had filled out from it's previous shallowness, his cheeks were red from the effort exerted that day, aside from glossy, bright red blood covering his face, down to his shoulder and arm. The young man's eyes, though they showed clear fatigue, were now as blue as the deepest ocean.

Looking around him again, the others had paused to rest when John had stopped. The old General noticed then, much the same on everyone else there. There were still _some _people that looked too gaunt, too pale to be normal... but they no longer had the black rims around their eyes, no longer had glazed over, ethereal gray eyes... they were all human here. They all looked the same. They all shared the same wounds, had all shed the same blood together, lost friends and loved ones. No, there were no differences among them anymore. They were all brothers and sisters here.

John nodded to himself, accepting the miraculous change. "Come on," he suddenly said, stopping to look around. "Let's go home... -all of us," he clarfied with a small smile at everyone there. There was still a lot of planning to do before they could tear down the walls. It was still dangerous with Scott's men and the Boneys. He went over to M and put his hand out. M stood a little surprised for a moment before taking the man's hand and shaking it.

When the group returned home, Kevin was surprised when his General told him that he was going to let the _rest _of the city's people in soon, and to expect it. For now, though, he would allow the group that went with him to stay in the city, get their wounds looked at at least. After running basic scans over everyone, making sure they didn't bring the virus into the city, the whole group entered it.

"We're going to need more houses... think you're up to helping to build them?" John asked R.

"I'll do my best, Si-... John," R smiled back.

"Good. Now go on and get yourself looked at," John nodded, patting the younger man's uninjured shoulder before walking off to make arrangements to join both groups.

R made his way to the familiar medical tent and smiled sheepishly at Martinez' shocked expression. "R! What did you do to yourself this time?" She scolded him in a motherly way and ushered him to the examining room. R sat down on the cold metal table and pulled his gear off carefully, wincing in pain as he did so. He stripped off his shirt and sighed in relief when his wound really wasn't as bad as he thought it might be. Despite how much blood he was covered in. The bullet had grazed his shoulder. He still wondered why it was bleeding so much, but maybe it had something to do with his faster healing rate. "Don't worry, we'll have you patched up in no time," Martinez said to R with a kind smile.

Meanwhile, Julie and Nora made their way into the command center. Julie limped over to her father and surprised him with a hug. "Julie? What's wrong?" John asked. His daughter looked spooked.

"Dad! I'm so glad you're okay! I... I had a bad feeling," Julie shook her head and pulled away. "Where is R?" She asked, glancing around. She was surprised to find M some ways away. She had expected that after the hunt that he would have returned with the rest of 'his people', but he and the others remained, getting looked at by doctors and nurses... something had gone wrong, there were too many injured. R was nowhere to be found. "Dad? _Where_ is he?" she demanded.

"He's in the infirmary, probably being prepped for surgery. He took a-" John was cut off.

"_What?" _Julie gaped. "He was shot? ..._Again_?" Was that what she had 'sensed' earlier? Had she felt his... his death? No. No no no. That couldn't be right! R had worked too hard, had bled and gone through fear and pain to just _die _again! He was _not _going to die, not on her watch. Hell no. She wouldn't allow it!

"Yes, but-" Again, before John could finish, Julie didn't let him. "Wait, Julie!" John called, but his daughter was already limping her way out, followed closely by he friend. "Two seconds. She can't stay still and listen for _two seconds_?" John scoffed, shaking his head, and went back to his work.

"Grigio! Wait!" Nora ran after her friend. For someone who's leg had been severely mangled, the girl certainly moved _quick_. Nora caught up and grabbed her friend, keeping her from barging into the medical tent.

"Let me go!" Julie strained against Nora.

Nora knew that Julie wouldn't physically injure her like she might another soldier in her attempts to free herself, so she held on tight. "You'll just interrupt!" She insisted. "I know for a fact that they need to concentrate, alright? I'm sure he's fine."

"You don't know that," Julie frowned, but stopped struggling. When Nora was sure her friend wouldn't rush into the tent, she let her go.

"Hey if he dies again and becomes a zombie ...again, you'll just turn him back, right?" Nora tried to clumsily joke. Julie didn't smile or say anything. "Would you prefer I go in there and help them?" She asked gently. She had as much training in medicine as any of them and would most likely be welcomed to help the doctor.

"No, stay... I don't want to be alone..." Julie muttered morosely. Nora nodded and stayed by her side. Julie simply stood and stared at the infirmary intently. She had had a bad feeling hours ago, and it had nagged at her the whole day. She knew that they were going to be gone long, but nine hours? They had been gone the whole day and looked horrible when they came home. Some of the people from stadium city looked even worse off than the former zombies! What in the hell happened? How many Boneys had there been?

About an hour later, Nora saw Martinez stick her head out of the tent almost comically and look around. When she saw them sitting on the edge of the sidewalk, she smiled and walked over. Julie had her chin against her chest, one of her legs pushed up and her elbow resting against it while she idly brushed her hand through her hair. She looked about the definition of 'stressed'. "Nora, Julie, I thought I might find you two close by," Martinez smiled at them. Julie's head shot up and she gave the older woman a demanding look. "He's fine," Martinez answered Julie's unspoken question. "You can go on in to see him," she told them. Julie brushed off Nora's help to get back up and limped her way into the tent. Nora decided to stick back a bit, let the two have their 'reunion'. "They're really in love, aren't they?" Martinez mentioned, glancing back over to the tent.

"As much as I've ever seen two people be," Nora shrugged and smiled. She couldn't remember a time when Julie had been so desperate to see Perry before. They had loved each other of course, deeply at one point. They had been very happy together and spent a lot of time with each other... but Julie and R had a special connection, had a passion between them that eclipsed everything else.

"R," Julie let out a breath of relief when she reached his cot, seeing him simply lying there, almost as if he were lounging, while a nurse finished wrapping a bandage around his arm. He wasn't unconscious this time at least.

When he saw her, his eyes lit up. "Julie," R grinned widely. He saw the torn look in her face, the relief and happiness to see him, but also the utter worry that lingered. "I'm fine, I promise. It's really not as bad as it looks. They just like to bandage everything they can up," R shrugged and winced slightly. He received a disapproving look from the nurse and smiling sheepishly when his fresh bandage turned a little red. He hadn't needed many stitches, just enough to close his wound a little bit better.

"See? You and your shrugging... that's what you get, shrugger," Julie teased weakly, his reassurance had relaxed her, but she was still feeling slightly tense. She walked over and sat down, waiting patiently for the nurse to finish. When she did, giving them a knowing look before walking away, R and Julie both got up, their arms going around each other in a tight embrace. "I missed you!" Julie sighed in content this time.

"I missed you too," R nuzzled her gently.

"Why were you guys gone for so long? How many Boneys were there?"

"There actually weren't that many, but... Scott's men tried to ambush us. There were maybe eight, maybe nine 'Purists' and about twelve Boneys... maybe more, I'm not really sure. Everything happened pretty fast. At least we didn't lose _too _many people," R explained. Just the idea that anyone had to die at all still bothered him, but there wasn't anything he could do about it but accept it and move on.

"I'm so happy you're okay," Julie shut her eyes tight. "I had the worst feeling that something happened... and then when I learned that you were shot and had to have surgery...?" Julie trailed off and shivered unpleasantly. R held her close, resting his cheek against her soft hair. "I told you to be careful, didn't I?" Julie sighed again. She pulled away reluctantly and looked into his eyes. "You're always doing that, risking your life for people... it's admirable, but you're gunna get yourself killed that way!" She reached up, brushing her fingers over his face, watching his eyes close almost blissfully as she caressed him.

"I'm sorry," R's lips twitched.

"Sorry, huh? What on Earth were you thinking?" She demanded, though her tone was not anywhere near severe.

"The bullet was meant..." R paused and frowned, looking away. How would she take this news?

Julie leaned in slightly. "What?" She prompted.

"Originally, it was meant for your dad. I sort of pushed him out of the way," R finished.

"...Oh," Julie's face was expressionless and she was too quite for R's taste.

"Say something," he probed gently.

"It's um- thanks..." Julie's smile reached her eyes, making R sigh inwardly in relief.

"Any time," R responded with a smile of his own. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, ...I guess I understand. He's the big boss around here, if there's strife, it'll most likely be on him. He kicked out a lot of hard-core people, it's not a mystery that they'd be pissed at him and want revenge," Julie shrugged. She smiled weakly and shook her head. "R, if you ever do that again, I'll shoot you myself, got it?"

"Okay," R chuckled softly, then yawned.

"You should probably get some rest," Julie murmured, caressing his cheek tenderly.

"Don't want to..." R smiled tiredly.

"Want me to stay?" Julie offered.

"Yes," R nodded, blushing.

"Well then go and get... uh, get in bed, scoot over," Julie blushed as well. Again her dream from that morning intruded into her thoughts. She swatted it away and sighed inwardly.

This was going to be a _long _night.

Even so, Julie worked her way to R's side and curled up to him, resting her head on his chest and sighing in both parts relief and content. R wrapped his arm securely around her, tucking his head down so that he buried his nose in her hair. He shut his eyes and let himself relax, satisfied for the moment to just hold her.

Later that night, Martinez went in to check on her now regular patient and saw him and Julie Grigio snuggled up together on the _very small _cot, fast asleep. She smiled fondly at the sight, then went over to grab an extra blanket, pulling it over their shoulders. Normally it wouldn't be allowed, but she couldn't bring herself to bother them. No, let them have their rest. Let them have each other.

_TBC..._

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**A/N:** Did you _really_ think I would let R get seriously hurt? Lol. Shame on you for thinking that. I'm sorry this chapter was short, though you _know _I've been spoiling ya'll lately! Besides, you didn't have to wait so long this time for this chapter! Call it a bonus chapter if you want. You know, I just noticed how much I jerk you people around, happy chapter, sad or scary chapter, then happy chapter again – and repeat! So! Some big progress in this chapter! After about a month of interacting with the former zombies, John decides it's time for _him _to change too!

Shout-Outs:

**xamss:** Some of them are very good! 4MeJasper, XinTheErudite, Lady NeverAfterNon, and Nightcrawler's Shadow -are all amazing authors, check their stories out too! Still, thank you very much! I think the book and the movie both have their own charms. I like how much more serious the book is at times, but I like how... I don't know, modern I guess you can say, the movie is. I also like the way they portrayed the characters and the subtle changes they made to certain scenes. Thanks again!

**MaddiegreeN:** Something like that I suppose! :D

**zombie girl jinx:** Hahaha! I did it mostly to prove a point. R is a vulnerable, very much alive person now! That and I like yanking the chains of my readers lol!

**Reader1352:** Happy you think so! I wait all day to update it lol...

**AoWoSora:** Lol! That's the reaction I was expecting!

**OmatikayaClan:** Well of course he is lol.

**brigid1318:** Leaving you people hanging was my intention lol. Nope, and ya didn't need to wait long!

**Gembomz:** Lol no... nothing like that lol.

**No One:** Haha while I agree that it might have made the story a bit more interesting, I'm still trying to keep things realistic. I was just feeling sappy when I put that in lol but yeah there HAS been instances when people who have gone through a lot together can tell when something is happening to one of them from far away... :D

**Tangled girl:** Lol! Maaaaaaybe!

**Fuinn13:** Don't worry, I completely understand lol I sometimes get like that too! Thank you!

**Guest:** That's exactly what I felt, which is why I chose to blend them in my story!

**warmbodies1d:** I love it when you guys get so worked up... relax, will ya? Lol!


	15. Chapter 15

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

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R woke with a start that morning. He had a dream that he had died yesterday. In his dream, he never made it back home, back to Julie. He sighed in relief but blinked when he noticed his bed was lacking in the warm bodies department aside from his own. He turned his head and frowned slightly. Julie had fallen asleep next to him the night before but she wasn't there now. R pulled the gray blanket off and stretched, wincing in pain when he stretched his injured arm too far.

He glanced at his bed again, then got up and went to get ready for the day. He had woken up during the night last night, needing to use the bathroom, and spent a few minutes just laying there and watching the woman he loved sleep, curled up into him. She hadn't woken when he finally got up, and was still asleep when he was done with his business. He had held her and smiled when she snuggled back into his arms. It had been a _very _pleasant experience for R. An experience he would love to repeat. Waking up and finding his bed empty felt more cold and lonely than he had ever thought it would.

"Ah, I'm glad you're awake!" R turned from brushing his teeth to see his doctor there, holding his chart. She went over and laid a gentle hand on his hand. "How are you feeling this morning?" she asked softly.

R tried to rinse and spit the toothpaste from his mouth as politely as he could. "I'm much better, thanks," he smiled.

"I'm happy to here it. I'm also glad to report that your blood-work came clean as usual last night and I see a very nice improvement in your muscle scale. You think you can continue to exercise on your own now?" Martinez asked.

"You mean without going to more rehab?" R's blinked in surprise.

"Sure! You've recovered in one month what many can't do in four..." Martinez nodded. "You're more than welcome to keep dropping by, none of us would mind a visit from you," she winked, smiling fondly when it made him blush in embarrassment. "But as far as I'm concerned, you're now about as fit as the average young man your age," she told him.

"That's great to hear," R grinned. "Maybe... maybe I'll stop by," he said softly and shrugged, wincing again when he moved his arm too much.

"How's your arm? May I see?" R nodded and let her push his sleeve up. "Hmm, well, it looks like you stopped bleeding," Martinez nodded. "You'll still need to take it easy. You're officially off work duty until it heals a bit more, alright?"

"Okay," R nodded.

"It'll need to be changed everyday so it doesn't get infected, just like your first bullet wound, okay?"

"Sure," R agreed. After Martinez changed his bandage, she let him go.

As R made his way through the streets to Julie's house, he noticed people regarded him differently now. They were no longer wary of him or avoided him, they smiled and nodded at him when he looked over at them. He had earned the people's respect and trust. He was also surprised to see that John had indeed let the group of 'former zombies' stay. They were relocated to a tent nearby and some where even reunited with loved ones. It was a shame that memory didn't come back so easily, but eventually, like Julie had told him, it probably would. He didn't see M among them but he was sure that his older friend was either helping to arrange things or talking to the others.

R reached Julie's large house and knocked on the door. He tried again after a few minutes but still nothing. No one was home. Frowning in confusion, he made his way back into the city. Asking around led him to his own apartment. R had given Julie a spare key a while ago so he headed inside, figuring she would let herself in if she was there. He wondered why she hadn't told him she'd be dropping by his place. Opening the door he was surprised to find both Julie _and _Nora there.

"Surprise!" Both girls said, holding up a bottle of champagne.

"What's this?" R blinked.

"It's a celebration, silly," Nora grinned.

"Sorry I wasn't there this morning," Julie apologized, shooting Nora a look to stop her from cracking another perverted joke. "Me an' Nora went on a hunt for alcohol," she smiled. "We wanted to surprise you."

"Thanks, ...but why?" R asked curiously, walking over and sitting on the rug with them around his very old, cracked coffee table he had gotten last week. It had a colorful sheet of some kind, probably supposed to be festive or something. As long as it covered up how broken and filthy the little table was, he was completely fine with it.

"Many reasons! You didn't get shot in the head is a good one," Nora beamed.

"..." Julie sighed incredulously at her friend's tact. "Anyway, we're just happy you made it back safe... you and everyone else. We wanted to celebrate life," she smiled.

"Alright, enough talk, let's drink!" Nora cheerfully announced, popping the cork on the bottle and making it ricochet against the farthest wall and smash into a couple little keepsakes R had placed on a shelf. "Whoops! Sorry!"

"It's okay," R shook his head and shrugged lightly. Julie rolled her eyes at his seemingly unbreakable habit.

Though the champagne tasted very nice, very fruity, R didn't much like the feeling of dullness and drowsiness the alcohol gave him, so declined when Julie offered him some more. It reminded him too much of how he felt as a zombie. He preferred the sensation of sharp alertness far better. R managed to dig through his boxes and find some cards. It was funny watching him go through the boxes because even _he _looked frustrated at how much clutter he had stashed away.

"I think you should see someone about your little hoarding problem..." Julie teased.

"You might be- right- got it!" R pulled out a stack of cards.

"Three boxes full of junk and you only have _one_ deck of cards..." Nora's brow rose.

R smiled and shrugged again, minding his shoulder. "I wasn't exactly thinking I'd be playing with anyone, I guess I liked the colors or something on the cards?" He sat down with the girls. After shooting down Nora's suggestion that they play strip-poker, they settled for a game of 'bullshit', which the girls also found hilarious. R wasn't the type to curse a lot so when they heard him say bullshit so many times, it just made them crack up. The found it even more amusing with how much embarrassment it caused him, though Julie fixed that by kissing his cheek each time he blushed... though that also made him blush even more.

That afternoon, the three had decided to go out to the food line to eat that day and were surprised to find that the whole tent had been moved. In fact, a lot of things had been moved. "Whoa! Is this like a party or something? What a freaky coincidence!" Nora laughed.

"I guess we weren't the only ones that wanted to celebrate," Julie agreed. All around them were old Christmas lights strung up in an atempt to make the place look festive, and tents moved aside to make room for tables, chairs, and what looked like a yet to be lit bonfire in the center. Speakers and more seating was in the process of being moved around.

"Hey, man!" They turned to see Kevin walking over to them. He went up to them and slapped R on the shoulder in a friendly manner, not realizing that he had just hit his wounded shoulder.

"Argh!" R flinched, pulling away.

"Oh jeez! I'm sorry!" Kevin jerked back. "I thought it was the other arm, man I'm sorry about that!" Kevin looked like he had been punched in the stomach.

"I-It's okay," R shook his head, smiling when Julie reached over and rubbed his arm very gently. "What is all this?" he asked for the second time that day.

"I'm really sorry," Kevin said again. "Some of the guys wanted to throw _you _a party," he smiled.

"Why? Why _me_?" R frowned. Why was everyone throwing him parties today? It wasn't like he didn't like it or anything, but he didn't feel like he did anything particularly grandiose to deserve a celebration in his honor like this. Hadn't he been one of the monsters that hunted them down at one point? Why did _he _deserve this?

"You saved the General's life yesterday and risked your own last week to save a couple other soldiers... a lot of people think you're becoming a bit of a hero around here," the older man smirked. "Some of us just wanted to show you that we appreciate your efforts," he shrugged.

"I..." R didn't know what to say, this was all so overwhelming. Never in a hundred years did he ever think that people, and so many of them it seemed, would so readily forgive him and accept him. He almost felt like crying. "Th-Thanks..." R muttered, not really knowing how to put his emotions to words.

"Come on, come on," Kevin waved them over. They could see people setting things up, mostly soldiers of both sexes. Each contributing to helping to set the party up. Even _John _was there. "Sir! The guest of honor is here," Kevin announced.

"Dad?" Julie's brow rose.

"Ah, the three of you made it, good," John nodded.

At that moment, another familiar face appeared. "R! It's good to see you're okay," M poked his head from one of the tent flaps, and walked over. His speech pattern was smoothing out very well lately. Maybe it had something to do with the battle yesterday?

"M," R smiled at his friend. "You're here too?"

"Yes. We were invited to join too," M pointed to the others helping to set the gathering up.

"That's great!" Nora smiled at him. "It's so awesome that we're all starting to get along so well," she grinned.

"Dad?" Julie questioned again.

"I know I know," John waved in dismissal. "They roped me into this," he explained. "They needed my permission to set this up of course, but then asked me to be a part of it. I thought why the hell not," he shrugged. "I agree with them anyway," he nodded toward R. "If you kids want to help, we need some extra hands setting the electronical bits up and some cooking done?"

"I'll volunteer at the 'kitchen'!" Nora smiled.

"What do you mean electronical?" Julie asked.

"We're trying to rig the speakers up to play music," Kevin explained.

"That's a great idea! You can plug-in Julie's iPod!" Nora beamed excitedly.

"I know a bit about wires and stuff, I guess I can help," Julie shrugged.

"I'll go with you," R smiled.

"Of course you will," Nora rolled her eyes but smiled fondly at them.

By early evening, the party had begun. There was music, decent food from recent hunts – since hunting in forests was no longer quite as dangerous as before – laughing, dancing, and just general jubilation. There was a sense of peace and happiness, and all around them, people were bonding and making friendships. For the most part, M had stuck by R and the girls, claiming to be R's wingman, even though he no longer needed it. A lot of people had stopped by the table, thanking R and wishing him the best. At some points, R felt like he was about to be sent off to war or something for how many people said these things. He felt so self-conscious and embarrassed by all what he felt was unneeded appreciation, that if it wasn't for Julie at his side, he might have escaped to his apartment. Even John had stopped by to thank him. After that, R had only half-jokingly tried to get up and leave, but Julie's hand on his thigh stilled him and he forgot about everything.

Not long after, Nora had disappeared over to where the iPod sat hooked up to the speakers, otherwise known as 'the DJ table' and sat down, browsing the songs. "Should I be worried?" R mentioned to Julie, pointing to Nora. Julie's hand was still on his thigh and he tried to ignore it, but it almost felt like her hand was burning him. It felt uncomfortable in a really pleasant way.

R couldn't decide whether to groan in frustration or sigh in relief when Julie pulled away. "With Nora, it's always safest to just be worried," Julie said distractedly, aware of R's sudden stillness next to her. She wasn't deaf to his suddenly quickened breath or how uncomfortably hot she started to feel just then, either. Maybe touching him there wasn't such a good idea?

When a very nice song began to play, they were mercifully distracted by the pleasant surprise. The song wasn't half bad! It had a nice rhythm and was pleasantly... slow. Oh, so Nora _did _have an ulterior motive. Bouncing back over with a grin, Nora took both R and Julie by the wrists and nearly pulled them off their seats all by herself with brute force. "We get the picture, we'll get up!" R laughed softly.

"Dance! Go on!" Nora went behind them and gave them a gentle shove toward a clearing in the center. They stumbled slightly and R wrapped his arm around Julie's middle, catching them both from falling face first on the floor.

They straightened but R didn't remove his arm. "Sorry about her..." Julie blushed.

"I'm used to it," R smiled.

"Do you even know how to dance?" Julie asked. They ignored the cheers around them, trying hard not to blush at how embarrassing the situation was.

"I..." R was about to answer him when the situation suddenly triggered something other than embarrassment. A memory flashed in his mind. Someone had taught him when he was younger. She was an older woman, maybe around Martinez' age, with similar black hair but different eyes. _His_ eyes, and very kind. ...His mother? He wasn't sure, the memory was dull and vague, but he felt a familiar pulse of knowledge make his head ache. It was very similar to when he remembered how to do other things. Such as use a shotgun. He blinked back to the then and there and smiled down at the woman in his arms. Forgetting all about the earlier tense moment, he took her hand and made a motion to twirl her around.

Julie grinned widely and moved with the motion, laughing when he did it again, this time faster, then pulled her close, stepping into a simple dancing position. His posture was a little off, like he hadn't danced in several years... which in reality was exactly that, but it was better than not knowing at all. They began to move and sway with the gentle music, back and forth, holding each other close. Julie sighed in content, moving closer to him, snuggling against him. People had stopped cheering to just watch them now, but R and Julie didn't notice them anymore.

"What is this song? It's nice..." R murmured, nuzzling her as they swayed.

Julie thought for a moment. The song _was _familiar. She had listened to it before, but maybe when she was younger. Back before she met Perry. It was during her more hopeless-romantic stages. Suddenly she remembered and smiled. "It's called 'Let Me In' by... um, Saving... something, I can't remember exactly who it's by," Julie told him.

"Mmh," R answered non-verbally.

They danced against each other, separating to spin once in a while, but for the most part, they danced like they couldn't stand being apart from one another. And maybe that's just how they felt. As the song began to end, R took his hand and gently stroked her cheek with his his knuckles, brushing away a couple strands of hair that the surprisingly warm breeze moved into her face. Julie smiled softly, taking his hand and kissing it. R grinned and leaned in, capturing her mouth with his in a slow kiss. When they pulled away, there were others dancing around them then. The song had changed to something a bit more quick, but neither of them were interested in that right now. Julie took R's hand and guided him back to their table.

They sat down, watching the others dance and have fun, content to just be there together. They held hands underneath the table, tracing fingertips, stroking palms and wrists. They looked over at each other and smiled. R leaned over to her again, kissing the corner of her mouth. Julie turned her head and reached for him, caressing his jaw as they deepened the kiss. Their hearts raced in equal passion for each other. They didn't even care that they were in public, didn't care that people were probably watching. If people had a problem with public display of affection, then they were free to look away.

"Sorry to interrupt!" John's voice was loud as ever as he walked into the center of the party. Nora reached over and paused the music, letting their leader speak. "Thank you," John nodded toward her and turned to all of them. "I just got a report of another group of survivors in California. They say they're in desperate need of help and heard of our community. They say that since the 'corpses' stopped attacking they had tried branching out, but a different group of humans attacked them. They also say that despite their circumstances, they are willing to share resources with us. I don't have to tell you how important that is. I propose we go down and check them out, see what sort of people they are and what they have to offer. Who is willing to come with me?"

It wasn't a surprise when several people volunteered. It also wasn't a surprise when R had politely declined going with him this time. John didn't blame him, didn't feel any ill feelings toward him for the decision either. He simply pat him on the arm and nodded. "How long will you be gone?" Julie asked, going over to hug him.

"It's near the center of California – if the coordinates are right, that is. It shouldn't take any more than four or five days," he told her. "I'm putting Rosso in charge, okay? Obey him like you would me, understood?"

"So in other words you want her to ignore everything Rossy says?" Nora snorted in laughter, receiving nearly identical eye-rolls from both Grigios, just making her laugh harder.

"Stay safe, dad! There are still a lot of Boneys around," Julie told her father.

"I will," John hugged his daughter one last time, then turned back to R. "Keep my little girl safe, son... I'm sure you can do that for me, right?"

"Absolutely, Sir," R promised. John ignored that R called him 'Sir' again, knowing this was an appropriate time to honor him, and turned to leave.

"We should probably go to bed now," Julie yawned. She wasn't really that tired, but she didn't want everyone to know how stressed over her dad leaving for so long made her. It seemed like R could read her thoughts though, for he pulled her close and kissed the side of her head affectionately.

"Come on then," Nora agreed.

"I'll walk you two home," R offered with a smile.

"Such a gentleman," Julie grinned.

As R walked the girls back to Julie's house, they talked, though R found that he had a hard time concentrating on them. His mind was back at the party, when Julie had touched him. He had felt desire before, but not anywhere near as strongly as at that moment. It was as if something in him, a switch, had suddenly been flicked on and his body was demanding something of him.

"That was a cool party," Julie mentioned, still held close to R's side.

"Yeah! We should definitely have more of those!" Nora agreed.

"What did you think, R?" Julie turned to look up at the tall young man by her side.

"Hm?" R blinked, looking over at them.

"I said, what did you think of the party?" Julie repeated with a raised brow.

"Oh, it was cool," R answered.

"You okay?" Nora asked curiously.

"Sure," R shrugged a little.

"R?" Julie frowned in concern. Since the end of the party he had seemed a little off, a little distracted.

"I'm fine," R insisted, his gaze catching her's. They shared a look and suddenly the night felt a lot warmer than it really was.

When they reached the Grigio house, Nora could tell the two needed their space again. "I'm gunna turn in. Goodnight you guys... don't stay up _too_ late!" she winked playfully and disappeared inside the house. It wasn't until after that they were left alone again that R thoughts on the tension that sparked between he and Julie earlier intensified. Her soft hand on his thigh had almost branded him.

"Goodnight, R," Julie smiled, standing on her tiptoes to kiss his chin. R caught her own and dipped his head, kissing her gently on the lips. It was clear to her that R was holding himself back again. When they pulled back she sighed in a little bit of disappointment and made to pull away.

However, R's hand on her arm stopped Julie from going inside. "...Wait... can I... can I have another kiss?" he asked softly.

"Of course," Julie grinned and stepped closer to him, bracing her hands on his chest. It was fortunate her leg no longer bothered her so much, but even so, she pushed herself a little closer to him, letting the arm that snaked around her waist help support her. This time, R's tongue conquered her mouth like nothing she had ever felt from him so far. It was as though he was on a mission and it made Julie feel a little light-headed. Taking a breath through her nose, Julie reached up, drawing her arms around R's neck and pushing harder against him. R's hands slid down her body. One of his hands remained on her hips, but the other played with the band of her jeans idly. Julie wondered if he really knew what he was insinuating with that.

It wasn't until Julie felt something pressing against her stomach firmly that she realized just how much R might actually know. The other hand started to wander back up and Julie had to try hard not to moan at his bold move. He hesitated only for a moment before his large hand slid up, gently caressing the more prominent _curves_ of her body. They only broke away for less than a second to take a breath before diving back into the kiss. Julie's hold on him tightened, one of her hands fisting his hair, though not in a harsh manner, the other wandering over his uninjured shoulder to grip at his shirt.

With a gasp, R suddenly pulled away, his face flushed and eyes wild. "I-I'm..." he was at loss for words. "Julie..." he was the one to bite his bottom lip this time, giving her a look that told her if she didn't step away from him at that moment, he wouldn't be held responsible for what he did.

Oh God how she'd love to push him further.

"R..?" Julie questioned, her heart beating a mile a second.

"I need..." R shook his head, looking more agitated than Julie had ever seen him.

"What do you need, R? What is it?" Julie whispered, reaching up to caress his cheekbones tenderly.

"I..." R didn't know what to say. He _wanted_ so badly. Wanted... what did he want? He was sure he knew, but he was so beyond thinking at the moment that he couldn't think of what it was, let alone put it into words. "I... need to go..." he suddenly said, stepping away from her as if she had burned him. What he was sure he _didn't _want right now, was to scare Julie away with his aggressively demanding body. He loved her too much to put her in any sort of uncomfortable situations. The problem was, he had no idea how much Julie wanted the same things he did. "I'm sorry, I'm just... really tired... I need to go, goodnight, J-Julie..." he said brokenly.

Julie said nothing, just watched him go, feeling more confused and aroused than she had ever felt. She paused by the arch of the door, glancing back longingly at R's retreating form, before going inside.

Why was this happening to him? All of a sudden? Sure, for the past weeks he had been feeling the need to be closer to Julie, like he imagined any young man would... but for him to suddenly feel _this _bothered... it was kind of disconcerting.

R stumbled into his apartment complex, trying to smile at one of his neighbors, though it came out as more of a grimace than anything else. He clumsily unlocked his door and went in. The door shut and R slumped against it, his fists balled on either side of his head, his eyes shut tight. "Calm... calm..." he murmured in an almost chant. He had never felt so flustered and frustrated before. He gently bumped his head against the door, taking a shuddering breath. Sighing, he pulled away from the door and pulled his jacket off, setting it on the old couch that he never really used.

Running his hand through his damp hair, he noticed that he wasn't just imagining the heat he felt. He wasn't sweating profusely, but his body felt too uncomfortably overheated. Stripping his clothes off, he stepped into the bathroom and braced himself on the sink counter, trying to get a grip. Standing there with nothing on, he saw why his pants had been so uncomfortable. He wasn't a fool, he knew what he had to do to appease his raging body. It was one of those things that he hadn't forgotten but never had a use for anymore.

Until now.

But he couldn't do it. He didn't want to do it... he _wanted _Julie with him. He wanted to wrap his arms around her. Pull her close. He wanted _her_. R shook his head violently and went to the shower, turning it as cold as it would go and flinched as he stepped in. He wasn't sure when he remembered that this might help, but he was glad he had. The cold shower only seemed to help _at the moment_. Once he stepped out and put on fresh clothes for the night, he was back to feeling like his hot blood was betraying him. It was just then he noticed he soaked his bandage through, he hadn't even noticed it.

He groaned in irritation and collapsed upon his bed, staring at the ceiling, willing his body to calm down. Now he remembered why he sometimes didn't mind being dead so much, at least then his body didn't seem to have a mind of it's own... besides when he got hungry that was. Shutting his eyes he tried desperately to banish thoughts of Julie's warm, beautiful body next to his.

After several hours of feverish struggle, sheer exhaust mercifully pulled him into the deep black void of sleep, where he could more freely dream of the woman he loved.

_TBC..._

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**A/N:** Well! It certainly looks like R is starting to lose it lol. Hope you liked the fan-service lol... I was listening to "Sister Machine Gun – Burn" for the last part, the lyrics seem to match what's on R's mind lol. R's having a tough time again lol. The song they were listening to during the dance was "Let Me In" by Saving Ferris. As always, keep the feedback come'n and I'll keep popping out chapters as quickly as I am! :D

Shout-Outs: Happy Valentines Day(after) to all!

**zombie girl jinx:** That was purely freaky coincidence lol I couldn't have planned it better though lol. I like her a lot too! I didn't expect I'd be continuing to add her to more chapters but yeah lol.

**batgirl147:** Lol! You're so funny. I'll try to keep your addiction happily fed but you might want to seek help elsewhere then, since this story will unfortunately inevitably end at some point lol...

**Kuratu:** It's called "me-being-a-sap-and-hate-leaving-things-in-angst" lol.

**KryptoniteBoy:** My favorite genre? Oh that's a tough one! I like to think I'm good at writing romance, not sure if it's my favorite though lol. I'm not really sure how to answer, anything that will allow me to develop characters really... so I guess "general" lol.

**AdiosCiaoCiao:** You're welcome! And yes I noticed I kind of take you guys on an emotional roller-coaster lol...

**AnthonyC22:** Bwahaha! You'll see what I have up my sleeves soon enough!

**Fuinn13:** Thanks! What on Earth do you mean by fluff? Fluff, by definition, means 'clutter', just random stuff, and often times people refer "WAFF" or warm-fuzzy-feelings as "fluff" so I gotta ask, what the heck do you mean? Do you maybe mean spicy stuff? XD Cuz I have some of that coming up...

**warmbodies1d:** I LOVE doing that to you guys! Your reactions are awesome lol. I swear, this is NOT normal to me! Usually it takes me a LONG time to update! Sometimes years when I lose interest in something lol fortunately, I haven't lost my steam on this so far :P

**Fang-delight:** Don't expect me to do double updates often lol I just had to do it this time because I hated leaving it on such an angsty chapter lol, I'm way too much of a sap!


	16. Chapter 16

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

**A/N: Warning!** Heavy suggestive content! It is recommended you listen to sexy music when appropriate!

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The next morning, R sat patiently waiting for Martinez or one of the nurses to bring fresh bandages for him. He wasn't even sure why they insisted so much, his wound wasn't even that bad! Surely other could use the bandages more than him, right? There had been people with worse wounds than him who still needed to stay in the infirmary, unlike him. He was surprised when it wasn't Martinez, a nurse, or anyone else from the medical team, but Julie walked over to him with fresh gauze. "Julie" R greeted with a wide smile. Fortunately, when he had woken that morning in his apartment, he hadn't felt as horrible as he had felt the night before. Whatever had happened to him, must have passed... _mostly_.

"Martinez said I could change your bandage, is that okay with you?" Julie smiled as she sat down next to him on his cot.

"Of course," R grinned, pushing his sleeve up. He unwrapped his old binding and watched Julie study his wound. He was surprised that she didn't look sick at the sight. It wasn't even a bad wound, a gash maybe, but it was red and raw and stitched up a bit. She unrolled the gauze and began wrapping his arm with it. Sitting so close to her on the little cot... maybe he had spoken too soon. His heart began to beat a little faster when her gaze caught his. R took the hand that finished rebinding his injury and turned it in his. He leaned down and kissed the palm of her hand tenderly, watching her eyes soften.

"Good morning to you too," Julie smiled.

"Would be a better morning if I could have a kiss?" R smiled back.

"You're certainly high maintenance today..." Julie snickered and reached for him, her lips playing teasingly over his. R shook his head slightly and leaned in further, his arm outstretched over her lap. His mouth was demanding, moving against hers, his hands bold. "Y-Your wound..?" Julie weakly protested, his kisses making her feel dazed.

"...'Don't care," R muttered, his fingers digging to her hair, cradling her head, keeping her from pulling away again. This time, R leaned back against the bed, pulling her with him so that she rested against him. Julie took advantage of her position, straddling his waist, letting her hands slowly slide along his chest. R groaned into the kiss, pulling her closer. One of his hands sneaked between them and slid under her shirt, his fingers laying patterns on her stomach.

When Martinez asked Nora to go check on R, saying that Julie had volunteered to help patch him up that morning, Nora had once again not expected the very intimate scene before her eyes when she stepped through R's curtains around his cot. She was once again frozen in her tracks at the scene playing before her. Julie was lying on top of R, one of her hands in his hair and the other trailing up his shirt. R's hands were doing similar things and they were eagerly kissing each other as if it were the end of the world... again. Nora cleared her throat loudly and crossed her arms. "Am I interrupting anything?" Julie and R both broke apart with a gasp and whipped their heads around to gape at her. Nora's grin widened at how annoyed her friends looked at her.

"Nora! Yes you are!" Julie yelled, too embarrassed at once again being caught to react a bit more sensibly.

"Whoa! Chill out!" Nora chuckled. "You guys have a lot of guts! Foreplay in public? Dayumn."

"It isn't-... We're not-... we're-... _Nora_, what do you want?" Julie stumbled over her words, far too embarrassed to try to explain herself.

Nora decided to cut her a break and shook her head. "Oh, I just wanted to know if the two of you were up for a job on this glorious sunny morning?" The older woman suggested. "You know, unless you have _other plans_?"

"Sure... a run sounds fun," R mentioned, sitting up and smiling apologetically to Julie.

Julie sighed. "Yeah, okay..." she shrugged.

After Nora made a make-shift sling for R's arm, despite his insistence that he was fine, they went out to their usual course. As they ran, the girls were pleased by how fluidly R kept up with them, how graceful his gait was and how much more stamina he seemed to have. He had certainly come a long way in thirty-something days. When they finished their run, they were again impressed that R had managed to run all four laps with them and they could see how pleased he was at his accomplishment. But it was clear though that it still wore him out, for now at least.

"I'm... going to go get a shower..." R said out of breath.

"Sure," Julie nodded and watched him stumble away.

Nora and Julie decided to walk around a bit while they waited for him and talk. "So, Jules..."

"What?" Julie glanced at her warily.

"I noticed the look in your eyes when R mentioned the word 'shower' ...care to tell me anything?" The older woman smirked.

"Nothing to tell," Julie shook her head.

"Right... I bet you were thinking of joining him, eh?" Nora knew that sometimes she pushed her friend too hard, and maybe she joked about this kind of thing so much because she was trying to protect herself, push away the bad memories she had of bad relationships and even worse experiences. Either way, it was always fun to watch Julie go red and deny things vehemently, even though Nora knew the girl was lying to herself.

"You're imagining things," Julie retorted. She was probably not being honest... well alright, she wasn't being honest at all. She _had _had a very short instance where she imaged walking into the shower with him... but it was fleeting and she furiously banished it from her head. It wasn't like that would ever happen anyway... right? Maybe it was best not to think about such things, especially when Nora was still watching her with knowing eyes.

"Maybe, maybe not! You and R were certainly very comfortable earlier..." Nora lifted a brow, waiting an explanation.

"We might have gotten a little carried away..." Julie shrugged a little, still feeling a little embarrassed. A 'little' carried away wasn't exactly what happened. R had been unusually enthusiastic today and Julie had let herself just go with it, enjoying his bold moves and confidence. R was usually more shy and hesitant to do anything, it was usually up to her to ease him into something, tell him it was alright... but that morning, it was like his mind was shut off and he was acting like a typical hot-blooded male of his visual age.

"A little? Uh-huh. So have you seen him naked yet?" She suddenly asked casually, like she was asking about the weather.

"What?!" Julie nearly tripped and her eyes popped. She glared at her friend, -who was laughing- fighting a furious blush.

"What? He's been exercising regularly and working in construction out in the sun has been really good to him too... don't tell me you haven't thought of it?" Her words had laughter in them, even as she tried to look serious. 'Tried' being the operative word.

"Nora! Seriously!" Julie crossed her arms, pouting. "You shouldn't be thinking about him that way either." She would never admit to her friend that she thought of it actually pretty frequently. She didn't need her friend pestering her any more than she already did!

"Oh please, you know I'm not the only woman that's noticed him!" Well that was true, Julie had seen the admiring looks R had been getting lately. "And you're avoiding the question. I bet that the second you two finally do get _down to business_, one look at him and BAM," Nora slammed her fist and paused theatrically. "Pregnant," she finished, and then started laughing again.

"Nora, you're terrible!" Julie scolded, still fighting a blush, but couldn't help but laugh at her friend's antics. Despite trying to earlier, she could not stop the thought of R standing in the shower, steam all around him, his wet hair in his eyes as he beckoned her to join him, from flashing before her eyes again... Julie again squashed the through, trying to ignore how hot she suddenly felt, and hoped Nora hadn't noticed. Hadn't she and R just met, like, a little over a month ago? But that didn't really matter, did it? ...Why was she still resisting the idea of being closer to him? She spent every waking moment with him since they met. The more they did, the more she wanted to spend _more _time with him. It was amazing how well they meshed.

After R returned, sporting fresh clothes and damp hair that seemed to teasingly fall before his eyes somehow, – despite it being kept at the same length as it had always been – they sat around Julie's room, chatting. Around lunch time, R had mysteriously gone off somewhere on 'an errand' and showed up about half an hour later. By then, Nora was with her nose in a magazine and Julie was painting her toenails with newly acquired nail-polish, -probably having gotten it when she and Nora went looking for alcohol yesterday.

"Hey, um... I was thinking, it's a nice day and all..." R began soflty, shuffling slightly.

"-What ever it is, I think I'll leave the two of you alone to do it," Nora winked at R.

"Nora, that's rude! You haven't even heard what he was about to say!" Julie scolded her older friend.

Nora raised a brow and gave her a look, then turned to give R a pointed one. "Well, what is it?" She asked patiently.

"A, um... picnic?" R blushed. How had Nora known?

Nora once again looked over to Julie and smirked. "Alright, alright... point taken," Julie laughed. She got up and went over to R, smiling at him. "A picnic, huh?" She grinned. He was being awfully romantic today. She had to wonder what he had in mind... was he trying to seduce her? Just the thought made her want to laugh. He was far too sweet to do something like that, not that she would have really minded anyway. What did she really know about romance anyway? Being raised to be a tough soldier by her military father in times of crisis sort of hardened her a bit more than the typical girl. Going on a hunt together, just the two of them, would have been just as romantic to her. Still, this sounded very nice.

"Yeah... there's this really nice spot in the apple orchard I saw the other day..." R's hands were in his pockets and he looked about as bashful as ever. Julie laughed softly and hooked her arm around his.

"Then by all means! Let's go!"

When they got to the field, Julie noticed that there was a nice red blanket with a small box on it. The box was probably a basket substitute. "Do you... like it?" R asked just a little shyly. "It's... it's not that much, but-"

"I love it," Julie interrupted. She smiled and reached up to kiss his cheek. "So _this _was what your 'errand' was, huh? Sneaky, sneaky!"

"Yeah..." R smiled and held his hand out for her, helping her to sit down.

"Thank you," Julie smiled again and let him help her onto the blanket.

Inside the box was the left over champagne from yesterday, a loaf of fresh bread that he must have gotten on his errand, and a tupperware of fried rice and beans. It wasn't much but it was still perfect. They sat and ate, enjoying the day, and enjoying each others company. When they finished eating, they stretched out on the blanket and talked. They talked about anything and everything that came to mind, and before they knew it, two hours had passed them. Still, they were unwilling to leave their cozy little piece of paradise.

Lying over the blanket to stare into the blue skies, Julie pressed a little closer to R's warmth, getting comfortable but being careful to avoid his injury. "How old do you think you are? I mean, how old _were _you?" She asked curiously.

"I can't remember," R shook his head.

"Well, by appearances, I'd have to say you're probably in your early twenties, around my age maybe," Julie smiled. "We need to pick a date for you."

R's lips twitched. "Why?" He asked in amusement.

"To celebrate your birthday, of course!" She smiled.

R thought for a moment. "When did your dad shoot me?" he asked after a moment. Julie blinked and frowned in confusion but thought about it. Wow had it really been that long?

"It was a little over a month ago..." she told him in a surprised tone. "I think it was on Tuesday," she said. "Why?"

"That's when I started my life again... it was my _re_birth day," R smiled. Actually, the day he met her was his _true _rebirth day, but when he had kissed her that first time, it was the day that really mattered to him the most.

"I like that," Julie smiled back. " 'Course, getting shot was definitely not the highlight of that day..." she added.

"True. But that doesn't matter to me," R shrugged. They silent for a moment before he noticed something and turned to look back at Julie. "...What?" He questioned curiously with a smile. She had been staring and grinning at him for a full minute.

They lay very close to each other on that red blanket. Julie could see every detail of his face and had noticed something very interesting, something she had somehow missed that morning when they were kissing. "Is that... _facial hair_? Are actually in need of a shave?" Julie laughed joyfully. "That's awesome!"

R reached for his cheek. "I guess," R smiled back, feeling the very light prickle of the beginnings of scruff on his jaw and cheeks. It seemed the rest of his body had finally caught up. Facial hair was about the last thing that needed to crop up before he was officially 'normal' again. Odd how it had taken his body that long to catch up. Maybe it had something to do with his raging hormones lately? And oh joy, now he had to worry about shaving! He wondered who he would ask to help him with that. He certainly couldn't ask Julie this time. How embarrassing. R blinked when Julie pulled his hand back and leaned forward. He had expected her to kiss him but instead she pressed her own cheeks against his and he could feel her smiling.

Julie nuzzled R's cheek. She hadn't much cared for the stubble on Perry's cheeks before, but for some reason, with R, it was different. She actually looked forward to seeing what he looked like with a bit of scruff. Just the thought made her laugh all over again. "I like it," she grinned.

"You do?"

"Sure, but it's kind of odd seeing it on you right now," she shrugged, then leaned in to kiss his cheek slowly. Really, how had she not noticed?

R smiled and pulled her closer, moving her so that she lay on top of him again. "We were interrupted earlier," he reminded her, his grin turning toothy.

"Oh, that's right!" Julie said playfully, pretending like she had completely forgotten. "Should we continue where we left off?"

"Absolutely," R beamed.

"I think," Julie began and took R's hand, slowly pushing it under her shirt, "-your hand was right here..." she said softly, her eyes flicking back up to his.

"Hmm," R murmured, his eyes going half-lidded as he gazed up at her. "Yours might have been somewhere similar," he said, letting his fingers once again tease her lightly. Julie grinned and leaned forward, pushing her body against his and by doing so, unintentionally rubbing up against him. Equal groans of pleasure escaped them and Julie held still.

"Sorry," she whispered against his lips.

"D-Don't be!" R gasped, then pulled her in for an uncharacteristically aggressive kiss, once again letting his emotions at what she did to him pour into it. Julie responded in kind, cradling his face in her hands and letting herself drown in his kiss, in his caress, in _him._

"Julie?" R and Julie broke away once again, hearing a voice call for said woman. "Hey Julie? Nora said you might be out here? The Colonel's looking for you?" It was Kevin.

"You've _got _to be kidding me..." R groaned in utter frustration.

"Shit, that's right," Julie muttered and gave R an apologetic look. "I promised him I'd do some target practice today, since my leg is getting better... need to refresh my training..." she explained. Her father had insisted to Rosso that he remind his daughter to keep up in her training when he was gone, that he didn't accept her to slack off.

"...I understand," R sighed and waiting until she crawled off him before sitting up beside her. He lifted his hand, palm up, to help Julie brace herself as she stood back up.

"You gunna be okay?" She asked him. R _looked _just fine but she could see the strain in his eyes.

"I'll be fine. I'll probably go find M and help him with getting the others a place to stay," he shrugged lightly.

"Alright... I'll see you later then," Julie smiled, then went over to meet up with Kevin.

R lay back against the blanket and stared into the sky. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down again. Why was it so hard to do lately? He felt completely fine last week, but suddenly he felt like he couldn't control himself. Was this part of his recovery? Had that part of him still kind of been 'dead' all this time and just now suddenly started working again? It was as if his body was making up for years without... that. He just hoped he wouldn't scare Julie away or anything...

That evening, Nora and Julie had found R in the command center with M, Rosso, and a few other high ranking soldiers, discussing the wall. "We might be able to do that, but we might have to still set sentries in these building here," Rosso pointed to a spot on the map they were looking at. "We can fine-tune this later, when the General returns though," he shrugged.

"In that case, I should get back to... my 'family'," M mentioned, referring to the people he had spent his 'zombie-hood' with. The men broke apart and, after getting a friendly pat on the back by M, R walked over to the girls.

"So we were thinking of having dinner at my house, you in?" Julie offered.

"Of course," R smiled happily.

"Like you even had to ask," Nora smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Julie questioned, crossing her arms.

"He's devoted to you- aren't you R?"

"Uh..." R smiled softly and shrugged.

"See? He's wrapped around your finger," Nora insisted.

"...Can we just go?" Julie blushed and walked off. Nora chuckled and the three made their way to the house. Being the leader of the city gave John Grigio certain perks, which included having just a little more food than most, but mostly due to people gifting it to him. Julie took advantage of it that night. While she wasn't the best at cooking and had her best friend and boyfriend help, it turned out to be a pretty good spread. Mostly unburnt to boot!

"I'm going to use the bathroom and then I gotta go," Nora mentioned, dabbing her lips with a napkin, pushing her plate away.

"How come? " Julie questioned.

"I have a late shift," Nora shrugged. "There were a lot of injured in that fight the other day..."

"At least you're getting a lot of practice," Julie nodded. Julie's brow rose when Nora chose to go to the upstairs bathroom. It was a little suspicious, but then the bathroom upstairs _was_ much nicer than the powder room downstairs.

"You think she's doing that "cupid" thing again?" R asked with a small smile, noticing the sudden awkward silence between them. Why was it so difficult to just sit in the same room with her lately? Julie simply smiled up at him through her lashes, moving food around in her plate idly. She could feel the tension too and didn't know what to do about it.

A few minutes later, Nora made her way back over and smiled at them mysteriously. "Okay kiddies, I'm gonna head out now. Don't wait up!" She said rather quickly, grabbing her coat and waving goodbye to them. R and Julie watched, slightly startled by her abrupt exit. Normally, Nora would stick around and help them clean up, but she appeared to be in a hurry.

"You might be right," Julie shook her head in amusement.

When Julie got up to take the dishes, R stood with her. She smiled when he offered to do it for her. That wasn't so strange for him though, R always went out of his way to please her. They went into the kitchen and silently washed the dishes together, prolonging their time with one another before they separated for the night, neither aware of how much the other wanted to stay. "So..." R played with his keys in his pocket and smiled a little from where he stood at the archway of the kitchen and dining room.

"Hey, um, you want to mark your new birthday on my calendar?" Julie offered, trying to think of an excuse for him to stay longer. Her father wasn't there and Nora made it clear that she wasn't going to be back any time soon so, damn it, she wanted to spend more time with him!

"Sure," R nodded, relieved that he didn't have to go immediately, and followed her upstairs.

Julie opened her door and spotted something odd on her dresser, which was normally pretty bare. When she realized what it was, she gaped in shock and snatched them up, stuffing them in her pocket before R could see. Nora had left them a little gift... or _several _little square packets to be precise. No wonder she was in such a rush to leave!

"Nora was right, you know..." R began, making Julie nearly jump out of her skin when he suddenly spoke behind her.

Julie swallowed nervously and stepped aside, letting him into her room. "About what?" she asked, forcing herself to calm down.

Nora would pay.

"About me... being devoted to you..." he answered quietly, missing how flustered she was, as he walked around, looking at the new pictures on her walls. Her yellow "hope" wall, the wall she reserved for her future, now contained pictures of R and herself, which just made R's smile soften and heart beat a little faster. Call him a romantic or a sap, but he liked the little touches she made to include him, just as much as the big ones.

"Oh..." Julie smiled softly. "I... I know you are," she grinned. "You're really sweet."

"Thanks..." R smiled shyly, glancing back over to her. The two sat in silence for a moment, feeling a bit awkward for some strange reason. Maybe it had something to do with the ever-growing tension between them. Whatever it was, it felt a little stuffy in that room.

"So um, my calendar is on that wall there," she pointed, "-if you can find it... last month was January so..."

"Right, my Re-Birthday," R nodded and went over to the calendar, flipping the page. He found a small pink permanent marker nearby and wrote a simple note, an 'R' and 'birthday' next to it. Even if his handwriting was still a little messy, since it was taking him a while to remind his hands how to work a writing instrument, he was proud he could at least spell it right. When he was done he turned to smile at her. The silence in the room almost suffocating. Maybe if they both got some rest, it would be better? R wasn't sure about that, wasn't sure how to get things back to normal... if that were possible. Their lives were never really 'normal' anyway though, were they? "We... um... I guess I'll see you tomorrow..." R muttered unwillingly, but still hesitated to leave.

Julie bit in her lip in thought. It was now or never. Besides, Nora just gave her a window for this. A very _sneaky_ window, but still. But was it too soon for this? She and Perry waited almost half a year before... but this was... and he... Julie shook her head, her thoughts contradicting and jumbled. When R had left last night, she had wanted so badly for him to stay, but he had seemed so tense, so stressed, she hadn't been sure if it was a good idea... not because of him, _God _no, but because of her own past.

Julie remembered very clearly, -sometimes _too _clearly- what she had done to herself when she was younger. Sex, drugs, pain, it had all been the same. She had felt that since the world had gone to shit, she deserved just as much of it as everyone else. So she had mistreated herself, thinking it didn't really matter. That was just how the world worked, right? What was love and kindness when a world sought to destroy itself anyway? She hadn't thought she deserved the good things, laughter, kindness, love and comfort... like that song, right? But as she got older, she began to regret her decision, it began to eat away at her... even effecting her relationship with Perry.

And then she met R.

All the hope and love she thought no longer existed was so fresh and vibrant in him. Dominant. It was what drove him to change. He had been a zombie, sure, but yet he had brought just as much of a burst or life and color as he had told her she brought to him. She had felt the most peace with him that she had ever felt. Now? Now she wanted it. She wanted to feel love, _his_ love. She wanted to be comforted by him, wanted to laugh and feel joy again. She wanted the change that he brought to the world... that _they _brought to the world. So yeah, maybe they could? Maybe he could help heal _her _as well?

When Julie said nothing for what seemed like too long a time for him, R figured it was because she wanted to be left alone. Sighing inwardly he nodded solemnly to her, beginning to leave the room. "Well... goodn-"

"Wait," Julie suddenly said, reaching over and grabbing his jacket, stopping him from completely walking out.

R paused and turned to her questioningly. "What's wrong?" He asked, frowning in concern. She got up, but still held onto him. She still didn't look at him though, for quite a bit, but he could see the gears in her head turning, and wondered what she was thinking about.

Finally, she seemed to make up her mind about whatever that was. "I, um..." Julie bit her lip, looking into R's steady gaze then. "Stay with me... tonight?" She finally asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Stay with you?" Yes, _please_ yes, said his body. "What about Nora?" R felt his heart thud just a little harder against his chest.

"She won't be back tonight," Julie shook her head.

"H-How do you know?" His voice wavered a little, his pupils already dilating in anticipation.

"...I uh, just do," Julie blushed, feeling the weight of the innocent little 'gifts' that Nora had left them in her pocket. R said no more and simply followed her into her room again. Julie shut the door and reached for him, tracing his cheekbones delicately, as if trying to brand the features of his face in her mind. "Do you know what it is I'm asking you?" she asked softly, searching his eyes. She _hoped_ he did, though by the way he had been behaving lately, she had a pretty strong feeling the he _did_.

"_Yes._" His voice was unusually husky.

"Good," was Julie's only response before taking him and pulling him into a hard kiss, crushing her lips against his almost desperately.

R stumbled slightly but managed to right himself and pull her close, his arms encompassing her body, so soft and tiny against his. He moved on instinct then as they kissed, shrugging his jacket off and, with one arm in a fluid motion, removed his shirt. The motion broke their kiss and Julie had to pause and absorb the sight before her. She had seen R without a shirt a handful of times, but this time it was different. And thankfully, the lights were still on in her room, clearly showing the wonderful progress R had made in recovering.

'Oh God help me, Nora was right!' Julie thought with a shudder of pleasure. R was clearly oblivious to how good he looked now. The month had gone by with rapid and almost inhuman progress in his rejuvenation. He had filled out surprisingly well, all things considered. He was obviously still a little lean, but even when he was a zombie, he _hadn't_ been deathly skinny. Now he was starting to tone deliciously. She could _just_ barely see the start of curves in his chest and stomach, accented by the healthy tan he was developing, and his arms were already pretty defined. His dark hair swept over his beautiful blue eyes and the intensity of his stare was just making her feel weak all over, not just her knees. She had never wanted someone this badly before, and this time there would be no one to interrupt them.

R watched her as she admired him. He was surprised by the pride he felt at the obvious pleasure in her eyes. She was pleased with his body and that made him feel good. He had worked hard to rebuild himself. He just hoped the rest of him was just as pleasing. Julie smiled at him, her eyes having finished roaming his body. She reached over and flicked the lights off. When Julie began leading him to her bed, R's concern over her momentarily overrode his desire to follow her. "But your leg?" R protested weakly, even as his body roared at him to shut the hell up and let this happen.

"It was _just_ a scratch, remember? Besides, what about your _shoulder_?" Julie challenged, and R shook his head. "That's what I thought. It's practically healed already anyway. It's fine," she insisted. And so, R said no more. Julie pulled him down with her and shuddered in anticipation as she watched him crawl over her on the bed. Her stomach quivered with a twinge of pleasure, feeling his legs straddle her as he leaned in to kiss her. With his hands on either side of her, she was effectively pinned underneath him. Trapped between a bed and a _hard_ place, as it were. Though one couldn't really call it 'trapped' if it felt so good, could they?

Julie pulled away slightly, sliding her hand over his shoulder, over his neck, and leaned up to lay slow kisses along his jaw. Every part of his warm skin her mouth touched, she couldn't get enough of. Who would have thought he would taste so good? He swallowed thickly and shuddered when she slowly licked his throat. She noticed after a bit that R was almost rigidly still. "R," she whispered his name against his skin. "You can _touch me,_ you know. I won't bite..." she grinning at the irony of her words. She smiled softly when she felt him relax slightly and grinned again when his hands snaked around her, pressing her closer to him.

R let his body relax, using his free hands to caress her cheeks lovingly. They smiled at each other and Julie was surprised to not find any shyness in his gaze. He was completely committed to this. And could she blame him? She had been yanking him around for so long. He had been getting more and more frustrated each day. It was only natural that he would be so ready for this. And God, was she ready too! His eyes dark with desire and body unyielding against her's. He pressed a little harder, allowing her to feel him, and she nearly arched right off the bed.

Oh yes, this was definitely going to happen.

Julie rose a brow when R began to very slowly sit up, giving her a look. Julie followed and as they sat up, she knew what he wanted to do. Sliding his hands up, R caressed her skin as he pushed her shirt up. Pulling it off, he didn't let himself hesitate. He wrapped his arms around her and while he lay a gentle kiss on her shoulder, reached behind her and unhooked her bra. Fortunately, from his angle, he could just make out how the hooks worked so pulling it off was relatively easy.

"What a pro," Julie grinned, her eyes still shut from the pleasure of his lips on her skin. This time, R did pause as he pulled back. Julie wasn't shy either though, and watched him study her for a moment. His eyes flicked back up to her's and he gave her a disarming smile. They slowly removed the rest of their clothes, tossing them over the sides of the bed without care. Julie had to bite her lip from moaning in appreciation at what R had to offer her. She noticed his blush and this time had to hold in a girlish giggle. Despite how hot this was, he was so adorable when he was bashful.

R ignored his self-consciousness over his... _equipment_, even if it was obvious that Julie clearly approved. He leaned in again, sliding his hands on her bare legs once more, wrapping them around him. Julie fell back against the bed, her throat going dry and her heart slamming itself against her ribs. His hands continued to slide and stroke her legs tenderly, sensually, moving his kisses down to her chin and then to her neck while he moved closer.

This time, with nothing between them, feeling him pressing against her once more, almost teasingly, like he knew what he was doing... -and maybe he _did-_ Julie felt her back arch off the bed again. The moment he bit down on her neck gently, she nearly lost it. A choked sound of approval escaped her and she shuddered in pleasure, her hands gripping onto him desperately. It wasn't a hard bite, nowhere near, but it was one of the hottest thing she'd ever felt him do so far. The irony of it being that if this was a bit over a month ago, it would have scared the living hell out of her. He had been a zombie then. But that was then, and this was definitely now. And she loved it.

Funny, hadn't she just told him that _she _wouldn't bite _him? _

Chancing a glance to him, though her mind was still hazy with desire, she could see that his eyes were closed, but he had a look of utter concentration. She took his face, holding him until he opened his beautiful eyes again, then tenderly kissed his soft lips, whispering her feelings for him in the darkness of the room, in the arms of her lover. They took their time, studying each other, bodies splayed and limbs tangled on the bed as they finally joined. Pressed against his skin, feeling him all around her, was the sweetest form of addiction. This was what she had been craving, and what she was sure had been driving him crazy all this time too. He had wanted this too, she could tell by how deliberate he was, methodical.

They spent the night exploring, learning their limits, learning what the other wanted, how the other could help. It wasn't perfect, some things Julie had to show R how to do, guide him through it, even reassure him that her cries were _not _from pain. Which was odd because by the way he seemed to know just what to do, it didn't seem like he was new to this, and had remembered quite a bit... perhaps it was because of his past? He was deathly afraid of hurting her in any way. It was very sweet. Though very unnecessary. Despite a few bumps here and there, it was still wonderful. It was what they had been missing. And it was theirs. Finally they could pour their tension into something, grab it tight and suffocate it, bend it, satisfy it.

On second thought, maybe Julie would _thank_ Nora for her little gifts...

_TBC..._

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**A/N:** Finally! You guys asked for it, and so here you have it! It's about time, huh? All the sexual tension was crazy! Crazy good that is. Anyone need some ice? Or an ice shower? I will only think about uploading M rated versions of mature scenes if I get enough requests. After I finish the story. Your reviews better not just be requests for it though lol tell me what you thought! Well look at this! Another pretty accidental freakishly long chapter!

I was listening to Trifonic - "Lies" while writing the last part, just fyi. Some of the lyrics don't match, but the rest kind of do if you take in in "star-crossed lovers" context...

Shout-Outs: **Over 200 reviews! You guys! I would hug and kiss you all if I could!**

**Reader1352:** I like how casual that question is. Yes. Yes he did. I thought it was obvious? Lol. Thanks!

**Fuinn13:** Ahh! Okay well in that case yes! Glad you liked it!

**liliaeth:** Give it time! I bet there will be more after a while!

**4MeJasper:** Well I did say I would update daily, didn't I? Lol. I have completed chapters in reserve anyway... well, except right now, at the moment I'm working on 17, which is odd because I should have finished it already lol it's almost done anyway.

**Aki Yuhi:** Oh crap! I forgot about that! Damn... since I was basing this story mostly on the movie, I hadn't bothered to check and look deeper into Julie's character, like I SHOULD have! In the movie she seems too normal to have that kind of troubled past, you know? I made some quick changes to the finished product, I hope it works out well in the story lol.

**coadhpgg:** Don't worry, your apparent love for my silly story will bring you back!

**Ruldophthewhat:** You guys... that's all you think about lol j/k, I hope you're happy :P

**zombie girl jinx: **Lol, he's not being naughty, he's being male. No, not animal anything lol it's due to his rapidly recovering body. I decided the hormones were the last to change for him.

**bonesbemmettlover:** Your reactions are so funny! XD

**warmbodies1d:** There are far more talented authors on here than me, I just chose to write a rapid-multi-chapter story!

**No One:** I freaking love long, in depth reviews, thanks a lot! I hope this chapter answered your question about R's blood pumping last chapter lol!

**Rue Bladesinger:** LOL! I hope this didn't disappoint you!

**brigid1318:** Your wish is my command! Lol.

**Fang-delight:** What WON'T he do? XD

**Springflake:** Thank you so much! It brings me such joy to see how much people enjoy my story! I'm glad you found it! :)


	17. Chapter 17

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

**A/N: **Warning! Moderate suggestive content! It is recommended you listen to sexy music when appropriate!

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Stirring in her sleep, Julie woke early that morning. The lazy rays of the morning sun drifted into her room through the open curtains of her balcony door. A feeling of deep satisfaction made her just lazy about on the bed, smiling when she felt warmth very close to her. Turning her head, her eyes caught the silent figure lying next to her, one of his arms around her shoulders, keeping her close even in his sleep, and the other resting against his stomach.

A whimsical smile adorned her lips as she watched the steady rise and fall of his chest. He looked serene in sleep, like a child almost, complete with the rosiness in his increasingly tan cheeks. Julie leaned in closer to him, her nose centimeters away from the warm skin of his unbandaged shoulder. She closed her eyes and breathed in deep. He smelled like sun light, if that was even possible, and honeysuckles. He smelled like life, like safety, like comfort, like love. He smelled like home.

"Julie," his surprisingly soft voice made her jump slightly and she looked up to see his radiant blue eyes gazing at her with the same fiery intensity he looked at her before he told her how much he loved her. The same devout expression he had every time he told her he would keep her safe. She felt her heart beat a million miles a second in her chest, part of her wanting to blush and look away from his piercing, emotion-saturated stare, but a stronger part of her wanted to dive into the cerulean pools of his eyes and let herself drown in them. The way he looked at her just made her want him all over again.

"G'morning," she croaked. Clearly mornings did not agree with her as well as they apparently did with him.

"You okay?" He asked curiously, shifting in the bed to face her better. The sheets slid slightly, exposing his lean stomach and Julie had to try hard not to stare. She could see the sparse dark hairs trailing seductively down his belly, disappearing beneath the sheets.

"I'm fantastic," Julie grinned. And she was, she _really _was! The previous night wasn't something she had ever thought she would experience with him, at least not so soon. It might have been a bit awkward and a bit rushed, he had to _help _her several times, but she had been overwhelmed with emotion at how patient and diligent he was. R worked hard to make the energetic pull of life rush through her veins like nothing else. He worked very hard to please her.

Who knew a former zombie could make her feel so immeasurably alive?

He didn't just love her with his body, he put his soul and heart into it. The beating organ that pumped as hot and hard as his solid body against her's. Julie blinked back to reality when she heard him clear his throat, a tiny knowing smile tugging the corner of his lips up. Ah, what had she created? Fighting the embarrassing blush threatening to spill into her cheeks, she covered it by surprising him. She rolled over and sat up, either of her legs astride over his waist, exposing herself to him again.

"So tell me, R, what are your plans for today?" she asked him casually, as if they were in a cafe talking over a cup of coffee and not sitting there naked in her bed, on his lap.

"Plans?" R questioned stupidly, his face already flushed with the exquisite sight before him... and against him.

"Yep! Work? Training? Teaching zombies how to live again? Stuff like that? ..._Other_ stuff?" Julie answered with a wicked grin.

"Actually, I was thinking of just _staying here_..." R smiled. Funny how rediscovering his sex drive could make it stir with a vengeance at a moment's notice.

"Here?" Julie raised a brow, a smirk tilting her lips up.

"Yep, right here, and you too. You're not going anywhere," he wrapped his arms around her waist almost possessively, trapping her against him.

"Oh? I'm not, am I? And what would _we_ be doing?" She asked teasingly. She could already feel him starting to get _excited_.

"Anything you want," R answered with his own playful smile, though a small blush still managed to peek through.

"Uh huh, think you'll be able to again, so soon? You _are _still recovering after all..." she teased him. And so, R showed Julie again just how much living energy surged through his body and how much stamina he had acquired over the month. A little while later, the couple lay spent on the bed, their eyes still turned toward each other. "Well, I don't know about you, but it's starting to smell in here," Julie laughed softly.

"Smells good to me," R shrugged with a shy smile, his hands behind his head as he watched her. The sun played over his skin, blanketing him in golden rays over his already tanning skin, making his blue eyes and black hair stand out. He almost looked like those descriptions of Greek gods in those old books, all golden and beautiful. It was all she could do to stop herself from jumping him again.

"Hmm, maybe... but I'm still gunna go take a shower," she winked at him and made to get up, gasping when R suddenly latched onto her and pulled her back against him. Julie squeaked in surprised and fell back onto the bed. "R!"

"Oh no you don't!" His lips stretched into a toothy grin. "Not this time! Where do you think you're going?"

"You going to keep me here in this bed all day then?" Julie's brow rose and she smiled playfully.

"That's the idea," R gave her another disarming smile, making her shiver all over again. He leaned over and laid a soft trail of kisses over her shoulders, slowly making his way to that spot just under her jaw that he knew drove her crazy. "I did say I wasn't going to let you go again, didn't I?" he murmured against her skin.

"You... did... but you... could always _join me_..." Julie suggested distractedly, her head lulled back to give him easier access as she held onto his shoulders. He was in need of a shave, but for the moment, the coarse little hairs shifted against her neck, tickling her in ways she never thought would be so provocative.

"Join you..." R pulled back slightly. His mind trailed off into a memory of a fantasy he had had a while ago. "I think I'd like that..." he smiled half-liddedly at her, making her shiver once more.

"Good..." R let her go reluctantly. "...Come with me..." Julie let the sheets slide off her body as she beckoned him with her hand, smiling suggestively. R watched her, transfixed by the gorgeous woman in front of him for a moment, watching her wink as him before disappearing into the bathroom. R leapt out of the bed and followed. He paused by the dresser, snatching another familiar little square packet from the little box, then paused again and took another, before following Julie into the bathroom. She had already turned the water on and was testing the warmth.

Julie grinned when she felt his arms wrap around her from behind. Her heart sped up when she felt that he was already very 'happy to see her' and leaned in against him. "I'm glad you decided to join me," she smiled, turning her head so that she could kiss him. She shuddered when she felt his hand trail up, his fingers drawing little patterns just above her belly. If R was anything, he was definitely a quick study. And a _total_ tease. He had learned all of her weaknesses and was very determined to exploit them all. Yeah, she never _really_ believed in the whole 'weak knees' thing, despite having experienced it a few times, but now he was _definitely_ making it hard to keep steady.

Turning in his embrace, she tugged him with her toward the shower. R shook his head and pulled her into him again, pushing her long blonde hair away from her neck, leaning in to lay a delicate kiss on her skin. "Should you-" R interrupted himself as his mouth worked it's way over her collarbone, leaving a wet, hot trail in it's wake, "-be getting your leg... wet?" he murmured against her. Funny how he didn't even think about his own injury. Again.

"...I... don't care?" Julie answered distractedly, mirroring what he had told her yesterday about his shoulder. His lips on her neck was making it hard for her to concentrate. What was he asking? Something about her leg? Excitement pulsed in her, her heart hammered in her chest as R guided them safely into the shower. Julie watched the water cascade over him, curving along the developing muscles under taunt increasingly tanned skin. She fought hard not to just stand there and gawk.

However, R didn't give her as much time as she would have liked to admire his achingly beautiful body again. He carefully lifted her up so that her legs wrapped around him sensually once more, keeping her weight off her injury at the same time. It was a little tricky with both of their wounds, but since Julie was backed up against the shower wall, she managed to brace herself rather well, and R was now strong enough to hold them both up. They made it work and were pleasantly surprised by how good it was.

A little after lunch time, R and Julie finally made an appearance outside of the apartment. R was clean-shaved, having had to resort to following the directions on the little packet of razors that Julie stole from her father for him. He had even managed to shave without cutting himself, due mostly to the fact that he was so worried about cutting himself that his movements were almost as slow as they had been when he was dead. Julie had rewarded his efforts with a thorough kiss and butterfly kisses over his once again smooth jaw.

Nora caught them walking with their arms practically around each other. R's arm was wrapped around her shoulders and her's was around his middle. It seemed like they didn't care who saw them anymore. Walking over to them, Nora saw how much happier they seemed to be, how much more relaxed they were. Well now, looks like they made good use of her gifts! "Hey, you guys!" Nora greeted them.

"Hi, Nora," R greeted very cheerfully. Yep, that was the attitude of a male that just had some.

"Well! You two seem in a chipper mood this morning! Anything interesting happen while I was gone?" Nora wagged her brows suggestively.

"We had a nice chat, isn't that right, R?" Julie smiled over to her boyfriend pointedly.

"...Yes... a very _very _nice chat..." he smiled but couldn't stop the blush.

"You're just so cute when you're flustered," Nora giggled. "So you used the little presents I left you, huh?"

"..._Anyway_, Nora, how was work? If that really was what you were doing last night?" Julie threw back.

"Oh, it was intense! -Probably not as 'intense' as the 'conversation' you two had last night though..." Nora snickered.

"Nora." Julie narrowed her eyes, swatting away a blush.

"Wait... Jules, you seem more agitated than usual... R, it wasn't a one-sided 'conversation' was it?" Nora grinned in amusement, watching him turn almost as red as the hoody he once wore. " 'Cuz you know it's very important for any relationship to have good _communication_..." she laughed.

"Nora, cut it out," Julie sighed.

"Now hold on, I honestly want to know if you two enjoyed... talking?" Nora _looked_ pretty serious this time.

"We did, alright? In fact we uh- ...stayed up all night 'talking'... and had a nice 'chat' this morning too..." Julie trailed off and covered her face with her hand. "Nora, I'm going to kill you, you know that, right?"

"Alright, alright, I had my fun -for now," the older woman grinned.

None of them noticed a shadowy figure lurking in an alley of a building near them, listening in on their conversation. The man frowned deeply, having understood what they were talking about and sneered. So the girl had had 'relations' with the corpse? This would be something his boss would want to know. Shaking his head in disgust, he retreated back out into the crevice that led outside... back to his hideout to inform his boss. His leader would want to know the little tid-bit of information he gained, a way perhaps to get the corpse that started all of this, that was in a way responsible from them being exiled, out and possible killed... the girl, Julie was the key!

"But yeah, anyway," Nora sighed. "Last night _was_ pretty tough, actually. There was this one guy that was missing an eye... but he didn't seem like he realized it, I think he was one of the former 'zombos', you know?" she said, ignoring the strange look R gave her, and went on to explain how the man had told her he was missing a hand... the problem was, he had both of them still attached. It wasn't until Nora did a more thorough examination of him that she found out that a lot of his spine was damaged.

"That was probably how he died in the first place," R told her. "A lot of us died of natural causes..."

"Do you... remember how... yet?" Julie frowned, torn between wanting to know and wanting to let him have this little nugget of privacy.

"...No," R shook his head. "I honestly can't remember but... I think I'd rather not," he told them.

"Well anyway, that guy wasn't the only weird case we had that night... actually, I just got off work," Nora laughed softly.

"You must be exhausted!" Julie gasped.

"I'm pretty tired I guess," the older girl shrugged.

Just then, they heard a familiar voice. "Hello _ladies!_" they turned to see M walking over, looking much better than they remembered seeing him... which was last night as a matter of fact. It wasn't a drastic change, but his eyes seemed sharper and his walk a little smoother.

"Hello Marcus," Nora greeted with a friendly smile. R and Julie glanced at each other, wondering why Nora was suddenly so friendly with M.

"Hello, Nora! Nora is a lovely nurse," M beamed to R and Julie.

"Aww, thank you Marcus..." Nora grinned. Julie and R both gave their older friend a suspicious look. "What?" she saw their expressions.

"You have some explaining to do..." Julie smirked, enjoying turning the tables on her usually overbearing friend.

"...Nothing happened, I fixed up a scratch he had on his hand, gave him a basic exam and then we talked a bit," Nora shrugged.

"Uh huh... basic exam? _Talked_?" Julie grinned teasingly.

"Oh! Oh-ho no no," Nora laughed. "Nothing like that!"

"Am I missing something?" M asked curiously, not really catching what they were talking about.

"They're competing over something, I think," R told him, shaking his head in amusement. "I'll uh, tell you later..."

"So! Now that you're here, Marcus, would you like a tour?" Nora beamed.

"How could I say no to such a... lovely lady?" M responded charmingly, offering his arm to her.

"Oh my," Nora giggled and took his arm.

"Oh _brother_," Julie rolled her eyes playfully, sharing an amused grin with R.

Elsewhere, Scott Kimberly shot his fist forward, punching the man in front of him with such force that it knocked him down. "You stupid fuck! You could have been seen! You could have led them to our hideout!" He snarled at the man.

"I'm sorry!" The man begged, cowering before his leader.

"You're not even worth my fist," Scott glared.

"I... I have information..."

"It better be fucking fantastic," the bigger man sneered.

"That little bitch that turned down your son- Grigio's brat..."

Julie Grigio. That girl didn't just turn down his son, she all but spat in his face and broke his heart. And then did _nothing _to stop him from being eaten alive by those monsters. The same monsters that John Grigio welcomed with open arms! Scott had thought John had more sense than that before! But then he had to go and 'change' like the pussy he was! And _then_, to rub salt on a wound, the bastard's brat goes and has dirty relations with one of those same monsters! He ran a hand through his very short brown hair in agitation and scoffed. That 'bitch' wasn't good enough for his poor Berg.

The loss of his son was still a fresh wound and he knew it wasn't very sensible to release his anger on everyone, but it made him feel a modicum of peace when he did. Even if, like a drug, his hate quickly replaced it soon after. It was a never-ending cycle of pain that he could not escape from. Scott Kimberley wasn't _always_ this way... he had been happy and he liked to think he was a pretty big help to keeping his former home safe. After the loss of his wife to those monsters... his only son's death was the last straw, the last thing keeping him from snapping.

To make matters worse, his protests to not let those '_people_' who helped destroy his family be let into the city had been brushed aside, ignored. His pain had been too great. His depression sending him into lengths he imagined any desperate man would go to, to try their best to keep what he felt was what was best for their society from changing. All he wanted was to keep things the way they were, keep those monsters away from the people he cared about, and keep their little community tight-knit as it had always been. So he made some stupid mistakes. Couldn't a man fight for what he believed was right? Or at least couldn't a guy try to explain himself?

No. He was exiled, spat on, brush aside just as his plea had been.

John Grigio made an enemy out of him.

Now he, his little slut spawn and that undead freak would pay dearly.

Scott turned again to the cowering man that was waiting patiently. "Julie Grigio? What about her?" He glared.

"She's fucking the corpse," the man frowned. Even though he was afraid of his leader's wrath, his disgust over what a fine piece of ass like her was doing with a filthy monster like that 'R' character, made him feel too ill to continue grovelling.

"Huh. Is that so?" Scott wasn't surprised. Of _course _she would choose that monster instead of his son, a good boy, -despite how 'active' he had been. So his son enjoyed life? So he took comfort and pleasure in the company of women? Was that a crime? A man had needs after all, and in this dying world, a man also had a responsibility to repopulate it, did he not? So his son had been a little _aggressive_, -it was only because he felt he was doing his duty to humanity! Most women were too weak and emotional to understand that! Which is another reason Scott thought John was a damn fool. Treating such soft, fragile things like men! Making them soldiers! Ludicrous!

"Hmm..." Scott rubbed the scar on his rough chin thoughtfully. "Maybe there's a way to make things right again. Maybe get that freak out here... kill him once and for all? Stop all this foolish 'change' from happening and fix the world ourselves, eh?"

"We should make him pay for what he did to Tommy and Derrick," the man frowned.

"Shut up! I make the decisions around here!" Scott yelled, threatening him with the back of his hand. When the man cowered again, he lowered his hand and thought. "But you _might _have a point. Maybe we'll make him suffer a little... maybe make him believe he's winning before ruining his day," Scott sneered, an idea formulating in his head. "This will take some planning... get the men," he ordered and watched the stupid suck-up rush off. If there was one thing he hated more than all of this that was happening, it was suck-ups and men who didn't have the balls to act like they had a pair. He snorted in distaste and got back to thinking of his plan.

Oh yes, 'R' would pay, and so would John Grigio and that little corpse-slut bitch of his.

Meanwhile, the four friends stopped at the Orchard after touring a bit of the city. It was already getting a little late in the day, so the bar had once again began to fill. This time, though, there was more laughter and cheer in the normally gloomy pub. People were being friendly and playing games. The pool table _actually _had people around it now! The four sat down and ordered their drinks. They talked a bit but Nora and M could tell that their two younger friends were more interested in each other at the moment. They glanced over to see R and Julie sitting a _little _closer than usual, giving loaded looks to each other.

"Hey, Marcus?"

"Yes, Nora?" M raised a brow... or attempted to anyway, not all of his muscles were responding as quickly as he would like yet.

"How about I show you the rest of the city? It's kind of boring here, ya know?" Nora winked and gestured to R and Julie who had turned to give her a curious look.

"Oh!" M understood. "That sounds like a great... idea!" he grinned and then stood, offering his arm once again. "You kids have _fun!_" M chuckled softly. Nora and M all but waltzed out.

"...They... should not spend too much time together..." Julie shook her head.

"They're too much alike," R agreed with a playfully solemn nod. "Actually," he suddenly smiled. "I wanted to show you something, come with me?" he asked, getting up and offering her his own arm. Julie rolled her eyes at the outdated – but still charming – chivalry and took his arm. R led Julie up to his apartment. Funny, she had seriously though he had meant something completely different by _showing her something_, but maybe she spent too much time around Nora too. When they got there, R proudly showed his record player, set up and polished.

"Neat," Julie grinned, going over to dig through his records again. "You still need to trade in for an iPod," she muttered.

"No way," R shook his head.

"Yeah yeah I know, better sound, blah blah..." Julie smiled back at him fondly.

"Don't forget 'more alive'", he smiled back, making the same circular motion he had before with his finger.

"But you have _me _for that now!" Julie grinned as she set a record in. The song 'Welcome To The Jungle' by Guns 'N' Roses began to play and she nodded along to the beat. "Yeah! That's a good tune!" She grinned, offering her hand to him. "Dance with me!" She said, moving around him provocatively.

"Uh..." R blushed, watching her hips sway seductively."Um... I think I like just w-watching for now..." he muttered, transfixed by her.

"Come on, woo!" Julie moved to the song, thoroughly enjoying it.

When the song ended, Julie laughed and sat down. It took a minute for R to recover his senses and he blinked a few times to focus again. He cleared his throat and dug through his stash of records. Pulling out a familiar one, he glanced back at Julie and smiled mysteriously. She gave him a half-puzzled, half-amused smile back at him. The record began and her eyes lit up. "Hungry Heart" by Bruce Springsteen, the song they had first listened to in R's jet-house, when they had begun to bond, began to play. R smiled affectionately and held out his hand to her. Julie grinned, her heart expanding to how sweet his gesture was and accepted his hand.

R pulled her close and they moved to the familiar music, 'their song', rocking back and forth to the beat, their noses almost touching as they held each other. Leaning in, R whispered into Julie's ear, smiling in amusement when she threw back her head and laughed at what he had told her. This was one of the best, most happy moment R had ever felt before. One of the best moment _either _of them had ever felt. Reaching for him, Julie hugged him tightly. "I love you, you know that?" she asked happily.

"I love you more," R smiled dazedly, positively thrilled whenever she told him those magical, three little words.

"Cheeseball," Julie laughed.

They decided to let the record play on, play the rest of it's songs while they worked in R's little kitchen to make dinner, deciding to stay there that night. The kitchen was _very _small, which meant it was very convenient for them. When Julie would try to reach for something above her head, R walk up flush against her, his hand on her hip as he slowly leaned in to grab whatever it was she needed. When R was in the way, Julie would press herself against him, reaching over behind him to do whatever it was they needed it. It was like foreplay in the kitchen. They laughed and settled down by R's little coffee table, the colorful little tablecloth still over it. R had found lovely orange and red candles before they sat down and lit them with matches he had borrowed. They had a very nice little candle-lit dinner of baked beans, made with home-made barbeque sauce, and baked potatoes. It was fantastic.

After dinner, R restarted the record and they washed dishes together. Julie smirked when she got an idea. Pretending she was innocently reaching into the soapy sink to rinse a spoon, she carefully dropped the spoon, gathered water into her hand, and squirted it onto the unsuspecting R. "Wah!" R jumped back, surprised by the sudden wet attack. Julie braced herself on the counter, laughing whole-heartedly. R narrowed his eyes slightly and reached into the water. Julie caught his action and tried to back away, but R swept his hand through the water faster then she had time to react, soaking the front of her shirt.

"Oh, this means war, buddy!" Julie sneered playfully and splashed him back. Before they knew it, they had started a tiny water war, soap suds and water getting all over the place. Laughter and squeals rang almost down the halls. Julie retreated from another splash, her face still red from laughing, and avoided him. R abandoned the water in favor of chasing after her. Julie squealed in delight when he caught her, in the living-room, his arms wrapped right around her, pressing her flush against him once again. They panted for breath over their little war and laughed breathlessly. They noticed then that they were both soaked to the bone.

Without needing to say anything, they grinned at each other and pulled their sodded clothing off, throwing them half-hazardly through the bathroom's open door after making sure to grab plenty more of the little 'gifts'. Julie pulled him into a kiss, guiding him to the couch. She lay back, shuddering in anticipation as he crawled on top of her, straddling her hips once again. Julie wrapped her legs around him and helped him almost urgently open another packet.

Hands gripped, legs tangled, 'their song' replayed as they 're-communicated' for the third time that day, and most likely the first of that night. 'Their song' was a companion to their own music, joining the lyrics, they created something far more special, far more memorable.

_TBC..._

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**A/N:** I'm sorry about all the cursing, had to show how much of a sexist dick Scott is lol. He's so awful, I love him lol! I love writing in bad guys, they're so much fun to work with. Anywho, looks like once his sex drive is officially on, it's over for Julie, she's at R's mercy lol. I just _had _to add a shower scene. Speaking of which, while I was planning this one I happened to be listening to M83 – Reunion, which is a spiritual 'sequel' (at least the music video certainly is!) to Midnight City, the song played in the movie! The official music videos are pretty cool. They could _easily _turn them into a full-length movie. Actually, M83 is a great band in general really. I knew about them far before the movie.

I find it amusing how so many of you think what I've been writing for love scenes so far is SO detailed... You guys seriously have no idea how much more detailed I am capable of writing that lol. Let's put it this way, if I were to write a REAL lemon, I'd probably be kicked out of FFNet LOL! Yeah, I went there. People were asking me to include some Nora/Marcus stuff in here... while I still think it's odd, the book _does _hint at something. Besides, he's supposed to be a little younger in the book than he is in the movie, and Nora is in her late twenties so...

Shout-Outs:

**Katie T:** Always happy to see a new face! Err username! XD Happy you liked it! I read it about that much too, well, maybe more but only because I needed the references lol plus I freaking love it and CAN'T WAIT for the sequel! I adored the movie too! Thank you very much!

**OmatikayaClan:** Hahaha this was innocent compared to what I'm capable of! XD

**liliaeth:** That would have been interesting but I didn't have any room for too much change in my outline D:

**Fuinn13:** Like I said, no, no he's definitely not lol...

**Tangledgirl:** No, YOU are awesome! :P

**Warmbodies1d:** Developing is an understatement 147

**coadhpgg:** I actually thought of doing that but then I had to wait until John came back for R to address John about it... and by then he would probably have had a full beard lol would have been odd I think. It would have been a great scene though, I agree! I might write an "alternate" chapter one day though lol. Nicholas Hoult made one cute zombie, eh? But hey! He got better! He's human by the end so it's not really necro, is it? XD

**brigid1318:** It was actually harder than you think to keep it pg-13... I'm usually not so reserved but I didn't want to scare anyone away lol. Yes, you're right and I don't think at all that any version of R is virgin, so I went back and edited the last bit of the lime. R's character is romantic in both versions lol I love it.

**Surely Sherlocked:** And my face looks like this! :3 (Ouch! How the hell did I make my face look like that?! Lol...)

**Eternally-Incomplete:** All good things must come to an end... but don't fret! Maybe there will be more in time!

**No One:** You call this naughty? Hah! Why would I take offense? I was throwing so many hints that there would be more that it wasn't even funny lol! You'll just have to wait and see what I have planned... well, actually, you might be able to tell with this chapter lol. It was so hard to keep it pg-13! You have no idea lol. You're very welcome! "Little" nothing! I love communicating with my readers when I can! Your feedback makes me as pumped and excited as my updates make some of you lol.

**Girl In RandomLand:** Hahaha! He IS sort of shy, but not really. Neither version of him is really innocent, I mean, R in the book gets a hard on at the end for crying out loud LOL! The book is a lot more adult orientated lol. Anywho, R is a man after all, men will be men!

**batgirl147:** Lmao! How do you even pronounce that? XD I look at that word and the tiny bit of my brain that's not rooted in English and still lingers in my birth language, tells me it's Spanish lol.

**GarnetAles:** Yes! She's pretty funny!

**Aki Yuhi:** Oooo! That's a lot of interesting ideas! :D You'll just have to wait and see! X3

**LoneTread:** Thank you so much for pointing out those mistakes! It helps a lot when people catch those things lol. I don't use a beta so I often make the dumbest errors lol.


	18. Chapter 18

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

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When Julie woke the next morning, she noticed that R was already awake, smiling over at her. He had always loved to watch her sleep. Julie grinned back at him and craned her neck slightly, reaching him to kiss him. She stretched over him, letting herself drape over his much larger body. "G'morning!" She smiled at him. They should probably get up, the little couch couldn't be very comfortable for R, nearly half his body stuck over the edge of it! If he weren't already pinning her between his legs that is, his knees pushed up slightly to help brace them on the couch. Julie couldn't bring herself to get off him though, he was so warm and wonderful.

"Beautiful morning," R answered back, smiling very affectionately.

"Cheeseball," Julie shook her head in amusement, laughing when R gave her a tiny shrug, a familiar little smile playing on his lips. Julie picked her head up where it had been resting on his broadening chest and caressed a little mark, an old healed wound. Was this the one her father gave him? It didn't look like a bullet wound though, more like a knife mark. She had to wonder how many times he almost 'died' when he had been a zombie.

R watched her trace tiny faded scars on his chest before focusing her eyes on his injured shoulder. She glanced up at him, as if asking if he were alright, if what they did that night didn't put a strain on him. R shook his head and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her and nuzzling her neck. He pressed her a little closer to him, laying a soft kiss on her cheek, using one hand to stroke her soft face delicately.

As his other hand began to leisurely trace her hips, following now familiar paths, Julie remembered something important. His other hand slipped over her now, joining the other. What was she thinking about? She wondered distractedly, feeling her breath shorten. "Wait..." she whispered, remembering what that important thing was. R's hands stilled immediately, waiting patiently. "We ran out of..." Julie didn't need to finish, his surprised and crestfallen look told her he knew. Julie laughed and kissed his cheek. "Don't worry, we can get more..." she laughed again when his eyes lit up. "You're insatiable," she chuckled.

"So are you... it's not just my fault we ran out so quickly..." R blushed, giving her a tiny shrug.

"That's true," Julie all but giggled. She went to pull away but strong arms encircled her waist, bringing her back flush against him. "So are you going let me get up?" Julie asked in amusement.

"No..." R trailed off with a smile of his own.

"It might be beneficial to you, besides, I dunno about you but I'm starved..." Julie's brow rose. "You gunna feed a girl, or what?"

"I don't have a whole lot," R mentioned, letting her go reluctantly.

"That's okay. Be right back." R watched Julie slide off him and disappear into the bathroom. He heard the shower and had to try very hard not to follow her in. Instead, he got up and went into his bedroom. From all the 'exercise' last night, he wasn't exactly clean, so he didn't want to put on fresh clothes before taking a shower himself, and yet he _also _didn't want to walk around his apartment in his 'bare-essentials'. What was a former undead corpse to do? Grabbing a towel, he wrapped it around his hips, figuring he had just enough of them and could just put this one in the wash too with his clothes. What did it matter, right?

He didn't have a TV to watch while he waited, and didn't want to get frustrated trying to read a book, so he went over to his record player and put on some music. The smooth and classy voice of Frank Sinatra filled the room. He went back into the living room and lounged on the couch. Funny how he hadn't ever used this old piece of cloth and mothballs before, and now it was one of the best spots in his apartment. Probably because of the very pleasant memories it now held.

Laying back on the couch, R closed his eyes and let the rich music fill his ears. He had just begun to drift off again when he felt very soft hands on his knees, and even more soft lips on his. Grinning with his eyes still closed, R reached over and let his fingers get lost in Julie's now damp hair as they kissed. "Shower's free now..." Julie murmured against his lips.

"Mmh," R muttered, though he made no attempt to move from his spot.

"I gotta say, this is the best outfit I've seen you in yet," Julie said with a little laugh. R opened his eyes and glanced down at the towel he wore, the _only _thing he wore. "Makes things easier..." she smirked, one of the hands on his knee trailing up teasingly.

"J-Julie..." R squirmed. "You're not... being fair..." he muttered, his cheeks flushed.

"I'm sorry," the woman before him smiled apologetically and stepped back, amused when he literally sighed in relief.

"I'm going to get you back, you know that right?" R warned her, a challenging look in his eyes.

"I look forward to it," Julie grinned, offering her hand to help him up. R blinked at her offered hand and took it, though he used his own strength to lift himself off the sunken-in little couch. Despite Julie's firm belief that her leg was just fine, he still didn't want to have her place too much pressure on it. She didn't heal as quickly as he did, after all. Julie bit her lip when he stood at his full height in front of her, loving how much the towel around him just seemed to make him so much more desirable.

R smiled down at her, leaning in to kiss the corner of her mouth. Julie turned her head to kiss him full on the lips but R pulled away and shook his head, smiling playfully. Julie rose a brow and tried to kiss him again but he stepped back. "Told you I would make you pay... consider this a taste of things to come," he shrugged, the little smile still playing on his lips. Julie had to stop her jaw from dropping at his suggestion. How was it possible that he could learn so quickly? Or had he _always _known this? Not for the last time she wondered who he was in his past... had he had a girlfriend? Maybe someone he cared about before he and his group died?

"Julie?" R questioned softly, seeing the torn look in her eyes suddenly.

"It's nothing," she shook her hand. "Just thinking about... the past," she shrugged. The past was in the past. She needed to focus on the here and now, on the future, let the past remain history. He knew what he was doing, she liked it, and that was that. "Anyway, 'not sure you wanna go there, buddy," Julie smirked at him, relaxing.

"No, no, I'm pretty sure I do," R nodded with a twinkle in his eyes, laughter in his voice as he disappeared into the bathroom. When they were both clean and wearing fresh clothes, trying very hard not to remove their clothes again, they dug through R's meager kitchen, looking for something to eat and refusing to rely on Carbtein. "There's some left over beans? I think I have a little bit of water too..."

"That sounds awesome," Julie smiled. She would _love _some eggs, french-toast with gooey syrup, and some freshly brewed coffee... but there wasn't a lot of that around... yet. She still firmly hoped that once humanity restarted itself, there would be delicious things to eat again. What she wouldn't give for a fatty cheese burger! She _could _at least get him some eggs and milk, they _did _have enough of that to go around. Hmm, maybe even some bread too... maybe it _was _possible to have some french-toast?

"Julie?" R questioned, seeing a look of conviction in her eyes.

"Hm? Oh, I'm just thinking that you might do well with some more stuff in your fridge?" She shrugged.

"I don't really need much," R mirrored her shrug.

"Hey, you shrugged normally! Your shoulder really must be getting better!" Julie grinned.

"I hope so, the bandage was getting annoying," R smiled back. They finished their breakfast and R peeked outside his apartment door. Once he was sure no one would see them walk out together, he signaled Julie to follow him. They managed to leave the apartment unseen and tried to sneak by the tents in the center of the city. They grinned at each other and laughed softly, making their way to the 'secret' exit to sneak out together. They were on a mission. This wasn't exactly allowed, but not only was what they were going to get beneficial, since getting pregnant wouldn't be very smart, but also, this wasn't the first time they snuck out of the city. This time they hoped things would go better for them than last time thought!

Unfortunately, they didn't make it very far before someone spotted them. "R? Julie?" The two turned to see Martinez walking over to them.

"Shit..." Julie muttered and stuck to R's side, pretending to use him as support.

"Shouldn't you two be resting?" Martinez gave them a knowing look, trying to hide a tiny smile from peeking through. Oh she knew they weren't following orders. Especially with John gone on his trip, they would be glued together. She didn't think there was any harm in it though, she knew how in love they were, could see it in the way they looked at each other, held each other, bled for each other. As long as they protected themselves, she didn't think some time together would hurt.

"Um... yeah..." Julie nodded sheepishly.

"Hmm, well, I'll let it go this time," the older woman smile kindly. "R, mind if I take a look at your shoulder? I just want to make sure it's healing well," she requested, gesturing to the medical tent down the street.

R was used to this by now. Since he first met Susan Martinez, the very kind woman had all but mothered him. He found it oddly pleasant to be on the receiving end of her attention, reminding him of something he had lost, and felt at peace when affection managed to peek through her professionalism. He knew she tried to be professional, and he respected that, but he was also growing fond of her. He had almost as much trouble to saying no to this warm person, as he did with Julie. "Sure," R nodded, willingly following the kind doctor back to the tent, his hand still holding Julie's as he tugged her along.

Martinez sat them both down. First she looked over Julie's leg, nodding in approval at how well it had healed already. Then she checked R's shoulder and was once again amazed by how much more healed it was from one day to the next. "That's incredible," she muttered, studying his injury like one would a fascinating new species. "Well, I'm happy to tell you that you'll be free to go back to work tomorrow if you choose!" She grinned at him.

"That's great," R smiled. He wasn't saying that for her benefit, he _was _actually happy about that. More than anything he wanted to contribute and be a useful part of this society. He didn't care if he had been lazy or unemployed in his past... he wasn't that person anymore.

"You two can go on and... do whatever it was you were planning on doing," Martinez winked at them. "Just _be careful _if you decide to do something you're not supposed to," she gave them both warning looks.

"We're uh... um..." R squirmed a little.

"I don't need to no, not my business," Martinez shook her head, then turned around, giving them an escape while her back was turned. She smiled when she heard rustling and the flap of the tent open and close. Ah, to be young and in love again...

"Wow, that was..." Julie shook her head

"-Close? I think she knows..." R blushed.

"Maybe, she's really observant," Julie agreed. "If she's that cool with it maybe we should have asked _her _for... condoms."

"Um..." R blushed again, embarrassed.

"No, you're right," Julie nodded. "That would have been too weird. We don't need more people knowing we're sneaking around, anyway," she winked at him. They hadn't stepped five feet away from the tent when _another _familiar voice stopped them.

"Hey you two!" Julie and R turned to see Nora _and _M walking over to them. "Found M wandering from one 'temp' tent to the next and thought he'd like a break from his 'family' and have a nice walk with me. You guys want to join?" Nora asked cheerfully.

"Um, actually, we were going to uh... go on a little errand run..." Julie explained lamely.

"Ran out of condoms, didn't ya?" Nora grinned.

"Shh!" Julie's eyes darted around, making sure there weren't too many people close by. Fortunately, everyone seemed as busy as ever and didn't pay any attention to them. Julie led them to a more secluded area and frowned at her friend.

"I'm sorry, I guess sometimes I don't think before I speak," Nora blushed.

"You've got that right," Julie snorted.

"R, you th'man," M chuckled softly, patting his friend on the back. "Julie, way to... hook up with the neediest former zombie of the... bunch!" he grinned, laughing again at the identical blushes on the couple.

"A trip into town sounds fun!" Nora beamed.

"Oh no, you're _not _coming..." Julie grumbled, knowing her friend would just be pestering she and R the whole way, teasing them and just giving them those irritating knowing looks... and she was sure M was just as bad!

"What? Aw come on!" Nora looked crestfallen. "I've always gone with you on scavenger hunts," she said sadly.

Oh hell no. Puppy-dog eyes of doom.

"Nora, you put those away. Right now!" Julie growled playfully.

"But Juuuules!" Nora pouted sadly.

"Julie... you're making her sad," M chipped in, giving her his own version of sad puppy eyes.

"You two are terrible!" Julie said, aghast. She was right! M was just as bad as Nora was!

"I guess we _both_ have annoying friends," R smiled to Julie.

"Hey!" Nora stuck her tongue out at him.

"Alright. You can both come... but _only_ because it's still dangerous out there and could use the back-up. NO teasing us though, got it?" Julie insisted firmly.

"I solemnly swear!" Nora placed a hand over her heart and held one up in a pledge.

"You better," Julie huffed and led them out. The group made their way through the subways, following a 'beaten' path and through the stadium, sneaking passed the remaining 'former zombies' and exiting into the open street.

"I never knew that entrance to the city was there," M mentioned with a raised brow to R.

"I didn't either until kind of recently," the younger man shrugged. He didn't really need to say _how _he knew either, they all pretty much knew it by now. Walking through the streets with guns at the ready, they walked as silently and carefully as they could, their eyes scanning the broken city before them warily. They didn't _just _have to worry about Boneys anymore, humans were just as bad. The 'Purists' would just love to take advantage of this if they could, so they hurried to their destination as quickly and stealthily as they were able to.

The group avoided a particularly familiar location at all cost. The small hospital where they all 'met' that awful day. That didn't mean it was the only hospital in that city though! It was a pretty big city. It would take them several hours to get to it on foot, but it didn't matter, a trip to a hospital would be good for everyone, not just R and Julie. They weren't selfish, they hadn't intended to _just _get what _they _wanted, but a healthy supply of medical supplies as well. Which was why they had two dufflebags with them. The march through the city was as silent as death as always. They were all so tense that no one spoke, no one cracked a joke.

A rustle.

Julie jerked her shotgun behind them. It was nothing but the wind rustling old newspapers through the cracked streets. They relaxed slightly and carried out. Around them were turned over cars, broken windows, crumbling walls. It was the world they lived in. Zombies and horrors worse than them did _not _create this devastation though. Humanity did it to themselves. It was unnervingly sunny that day and the weather was teasingly pleasant. It was _too _nice outside today. As they neared the hospital, after stopping half-way for some 'lunch' of Carbtein and water, they finally made it to the hospital.

Ignoring the piled bodies covered in white sheets, they slowly crept toward the doors, guns at the ready. Julie signaled her 'team' to spread around the doors, so they paired up according to who shot best, two pointing their guns inside, the other two with their backs to them, guarding the outside. Together they stepped inside.

Death.

It was the strongest smell that hit their noses as soon as they stepped into the hospital. It was so bad that they physically had to take a step back again. Something horrible had happened here, something that blanketed over this place like a tarp of filth. Already they could see the signs that something wasn't right. There was old blood all over the place. One would expect there to be quite a bit of blood in a hospital, but you usually only saw the white walls and smelled the acrid chemicals in the air. But all they could smell was the sickly sweet smell of rotten bodies and coppery smell of blood. It was like a physical fog that wrapped around them.

"God," Nora gagged, covering her nose.

"Ugh, is this what I smelled like before?" R muttered, also holding a hand to his face.

"No," said Nora and Julie at the same time. It smelled like half of the dead population had been stuffed in here in the middle of summer and left to rot. The walls looked like a toddler had taken finger paint and spread it all over. Except that the kid only had red and brown paint and multiple hands. It was a _very _messed up kid.

"This..." Julie trailed off, seeing a couple dead bodies inside the reception area. They had bullet wounds and bite marks. They were also dressed in military gear. "Looks like the military tried to contain this place," she frowned.

"Doesn't look like it worked," Nora muttered.

"Those bite marks aren't done by zombies," M muttered.

"Boneys?" Nora's eyes widened.

"Possibly," M shrugged. "It could be dog bites though. I saw some liv- some _people_ take some dogs to sniff... out the dead before."

"Ugh, this is so creepy," Julie shuddered, turning away from the site of a half-eaten face. Suddenly a bloody hand shot out from somewhere underneath her. Julie gasped, jumping back and bumping into R in the process.

"What is it? What's wrong?" R asked, catching her and looking around widely for the threat.

"Something under that desk touched me," Julie told him, training her gun toward said ruined table. They crept around the table and jumped in surprise when teeth gnashed at them. One thing that they hadn't thought about was the undead that had not been in contact with any of the 'healing'. In their isolation, the darkness that animated them still reigned supreme. Two undead soldiers and one nurse, and two doctors scrambled to their feet, snarling hungrily as they tried to reach their prey.

"Were they setting an ambush?!" Nora asked, frantically pumping bullets in the zombie that stumbled toward her.

"They might have just been idle!" R answered, kicking a zombie out of the way and whacking it across the face with his weapon, making it stumble. "Stop! We can help you!" R yelled, but the undead mindlessly charged again anyway, too hungry to hear his words. They were forced to kill them all. The silence once again fell, though now there was a ringing in the air from the sound of gunfire. They stayed still, pointing their weapons to the remaining torn bodies on the ground, but nothing moved. They relaxed and once again made their way down the hallway, nice and easy. "Here's a storage room, I think," R said, squinting at the words over the door.

"Yep, nice job, R," Julie grinned at him, happy he hadn't forgotten what she had taught him. R smiled back and turned to the door. There was a padlock on it. A good sign.

"How are we supposed to get in?" Nora asked. R and M looked at each other, sending each other a wordless message. R went over to the door and turned his shotgun over. With one vicious slam with the butt of his shotgun, he cracked the wood around padlock. Immediately after, M charged in, bursting into the door. The door swung open and M stumbled over, cringing in pain. "Hey! Are you okay?" Nora asked, rushing over to his side.

"I'm... I'm fine... I guess I didn't remember that I can feel... pain now..." he groaned, rubbing his arm.

"Here, let me look at it. You two get the stuff you need," Nora said, her mask of professionalism slipping on. While R and Julie went to look through the shelves, putting essential things the city needed more of in the dufflebag, as well as what they came for, Nora looked over M. "It looks like you might have dislocated your shoulder," Nora said, testing the tenderness of the joint connecting his collar bone and arm, seeing him flinch in pain. "I know how to set it, but this is going to hurt like a bitch, alright?" M nodded. "Okay... ready?"

"F-Fuck yeah..." M steeled himself. Nora braced herself in the safest position she could maneuver in and with one direct yank, popped his shoulder back into place. M bit his hand and groaned in pain. "Not... so bad..." he huffed.

"Good job, you didn't scream," Nora grinned. She rubbed his arm soothingly and he smiled appreciatively at her, nodding in thanks.

"I think we've got as much as we can carry," R said, hefting one of the dufflebags and gesturing to Julie's.

"Then let's get the hell out of here," M got up and wobbled slightly. "Whoa..."

"Easy there," Nora steadied him. "What's wrong?"

"I guess it was a lot of... movement I'm not used to?" He shrugged and gasped in pain. "Damnit," he muttered, glaring at his arm and feeling stupid for doing something so reckless.

Julie moved around them and carefully stepped outside. All clear on the left.

Not clear on the right!

Just as they stepped out of the storage room, they were beset by another zombie from the right, having probably heard the noise from wherever he was and lumbered over. "Shit!" Julie screeched as the zombie fell upon her. Julie kept it at bay with her shotgun under it's neck, keeping it from biting at her.

"NO!" R ran over, kicking the zombie in the face, making it fall back onto it's back. R raised his gun but the zombie crawled away and stood alarmingly quickly. It charged at him and R smacked it across the face with his arm. He instantly regretted that impulsive move.

It bit him.

"R!" Julie gasped, rushing over to him just as M took a medical notebook that had been in the storage room and beat the undead's head in until it stopped moving. Julie grabbed R's arm and gaped in shock at the bite mark. "R..." her eyes began to weld with tears. R had stopped bleeding in the spot he was bitten and it was turning black, spreading like a cancer.

"Wait, look!" Nora said, pointing to his arm. The three walked closer to R and studied his arm.

"Argh, God, that _hurts_," R hissed. The four watched in astonishment as the blackness that had begun to spread over his arm suddenly stop in it's tracks and fade away rapidly. Moments later, he began to bleed again and heal right before their eyes. His veins seemed to pulse. It burned almost like electricity in his veins, sizzling, like whatever was in him was surging through him to viciously attack and destroy the virus.

"That's... that's impossible," Nora muttered.

"Could... could he be _immune _to the virus? Could all of the former dead..?" Julie asked, her voice just above a whisper.

"...It's possible," Nora frowned. "Whatever happened to change you guys, it could be the answer to everything... it could..."

"-Just turn into something worse if you think about messing with it," M warned her. "That was _probably _how... all of this started," he shrugged.

R noticed that Julie was still a little spooked and leaned over to put his arm around her, smiling reassuringly to her. Julie visibly relaxed at his touch and smile and nodded. She leaned against him, resting her cheek on his chest and closing her eyes, just absorbing his comforting presence.

A horrible hiss made the four of them freeze.

They slowly turned and saw an ominous shape in the distant, down the hall.

The commotion had alerted the Boneys in the hospital...

"Fuck..." M muttered, pulling his pistol out while the others got their own weapons ready.

Three. Four. Five Boneys all appeared in the hallway. All at once they charged, moving erratically to dodge bullets flying at them. One of the bowled over R and Julie but Julie managed to shove the barrel of her shotgun in it's mouth and blast it's head apart. Two more tried to sandwich Nora, but she ducked, whirled around and fired her shotgun. She missed, hitting one of them the back... fortunately making it tumble into the other one. Another one roared at M angrily and ran over to him. M fired but his injured shoulder made it difficult to aim. He hit it in the head but only a graze. It landed on him but M was surprised by how easily he could just push it off.

Nora yelped when the last one snuck up on her, ramming into her and trying to scratch and bite her. Nora's pistol went flying out of her hand but she too was startled by how easily she could keep it at bay. She gasped in pain when it's grimy nails cut her cheek lightly. And then suddenly it disappeared from her view. M slammed into the Boney over Nora, throwing it off of her and making it slide right over to R, who quickly dispatched it with his shotgun. The remaining Boneys seemed to shamble over to them, as if tired or injured. They reached for them with what looked like slow-motions. R kicked one lightly and it nearly fell over. They finished them off quickly.

"What was that?" Nora panted, sitting up and accepting R's hand to help her up.

"That _was _weird..." M agreed. "It was almost as if they were..."

"-Weak," R finished with a frown. What the heck was going on?

"Maybe... maybe they're giving up?" Julie smiled.

"That would be great," Nora grinned back.

Weakening Boneys?

This was definitely very good news indeed!

_TBC..._

* * *

**A/N:** Whoa! Quite a scare when R was viral again! Good thing he's immune! XD The hospital part was DEFINITELY inspired by The Walking Dead lol. I was listening to "JES – Into The Dawn" as I was writing this... actually, as I was writing this and the next chapter. I split this one in two, otherwise it would have been _too _long and I like seeing lots of chapters!Anyway, it's a freaking awesome song. At one point I was also listening to "Feist - The Bad In Each Other" because it fit lol.

(Lots of freaking) Shout-Outs:

**Rue Bladesinger:** I kind of used your "needy zombie" idea, I hope you didn't mind I used your words! I thought it was hilarious and so true... in a way it includes you in the story, sort of like a cameo! XD

**4MeJasper:** Naw, I'm not, I'm average I think but I have chapters in reserve lol so I can post quickly. That and I don't have a job at the moment so I have a lot of time on my hands lol.

**hannahleep123:** LOL! You're right, that's what it seems like, eh? I like to call it the 'going at it like bunnies' stage too!

**GarnetAles:** It's because I don't have much of a life at the present moment lol I have a lot of time on my hands. I always have a chapter in reserve, so I can just post the already completed chapter and work on the next! It also helps I have such a detailed outline!

**coadhpgg:** No! He's mine! XD J/K you can borrow him :P err anyway, Scott is a hardass and you'll be seeing plenty of him soon... mwuahahaha!

**Warmbodies1d:** Glad you found them funny! I was laughing out loud while writing them, my mom was nearby and thought I had lost my marbles... actually, I used to have a little bag of marbles and I honestly don't know where I put them lol. Yes, he's a sexist bitch, but he's MY sexist bitch lol he's kind of like an irresponsible, disappointing son to me LOL j/k j/k.

**brigid1318:** Yesh! No, there's still plenty of story to come! Some exciting things! Well... exciting for _me_ to _write_, probably hair-pulling for you though lol. You're definitely not the only one that's asked lol.

**Girl In RandomLand:** He was never a little anything lol he's always been a man XD just a little on the soft and dead side... if that makes any sense. Just cuz he has a baby face lol.

**No One:** Naw, I wouldn't do that in this story lol. I might make a seperate mature verion of certain chapters though! Glad you like it and I hope you like the little Marcus/Nora stuff I tossed in lol, that was more for you guys. I chose to go with the book portrayal for that.

**Katie T:** No way, the sequel is gunna be great! Isaac Marion promised to have a lot of questions answered! That and we get to see what happened afterwards! Plus... a sequel to the book MIGHT mean a sequel to the movie! That's always cool!

**Obsessive Compulsive Fangirl:** Thank you very much!


	19. Chapter 19

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

**A/N: **Warning. Mild Suggestive content.

* * *

They four made sure to barricade the reception area as best as they could, sitting to rest, relax after such a tense situation they found themselves it. Blood trickled down Nora's cheek but she didn't seem to notice. R glanced over and frowned in concern. "You should disinfect that," R muttered, gesturing to her injury.

"Huh?" Nora reached to her cheek and her fingers came back red, feeling the sting, she nodded. "Yeah, you're right." Nora went back into the storage closet and returned with oxygen peroxide and cotton-balls. "Who else needs tending to?"

"R always needs... tending to..." M chuckled, making Nora grin in amusement.

"You guys are too much alike..." Julie sighed.

"It's because we're both awesome," Nora snickered, winking at M who nodded in agreement.

M watched Nora dab a piece of cotton with oxygen peroxide and winced sympathetically when she pressed it awkwardly against the corner of her injury, making it bleed a little more. "Here, let me help," M reached for the cotton-ball.

"You don't have to," Nora smiled, but let him take the cotton and bottle of oxygen peroxide.

"Nonsense, you helped me! It's the least I can do," he smiled charmingly back at her. He and cleaned her cheek gently, pausing when she hissed in pain. R and Julie watched in interest. They had only met a few times and already seemed to be pretty good friends. It could be one of the reasons M seemed to be healing just a little faster now. It might not have been what Julie and R experienced, but it was still healthy social contact that M needed.

"Thank you, Marcus," Nora beamed at him. "It feels much better."

"Anytime," M winked charmingly.

R gave his friend a look, who shrugged and smiled at him, as if saying 'hey why not?' R shook his head in amusement. The awe-struck wonder at how weak the Boneys were and how easily they were defeated still fresh on their minds, the four got up and made their way out.

As they headed out, Julie wanted so bad to let R put his arm over her, she was sure he wanted to do, if his glances over to her were any clue. Calm her down from the moment of pure horror at the thought of that damn virus enslaving R again. But that wouldn't be safe and they knew it. They needed both hands to operate their weapons. So they walked in silence once more, eyes trained in alleyways and dark buildings. It was still late afternoon but there was enough light to see around them and they could possibly make it back home before it started getting dark if they didn't stop to rest.

M had not had the same kind of help as R had though, making it difficult for him to keep a steady pace without stopping to rest. So they stopped and let him catch his breath. They were making good time anyway. It was very early evening when they finally reached the secret entrance. They crept in and made their way back into the city. Moving into the medical tent, the four were greeted by a surprised Martinez who eyed them suspiciously. When the older woman saw them place two bags full of supplies and she noticed the wound on Nora's scratched cheek and R's bloody arm, she blanched.

"Those aren't old wounds! You kids! You included Mr. Marcus! You should be more careful!" Martinez scolded gently. The four of them had the decency to look shamefaced at least. Seeing a grown man shuffle his feet around like a teenager though only made Martinez have to hold in a laughter. Her stern cover would be blown if that happened... not that she was being particularly tough on them. "R... is that a..?" She walked over and took his arm in her's gently, giving him a pained look.

"Yes, but it's okay! I'm not infected," R said quickly, seeing her look of alarm and smiled gently at her, trying to ease her worries. "I'm... I'm immune," he grinned, still thrilled by the concept.

Martinez relaxed slightly, and then frowned in confusion. "Immune..." Her eyes were wide in awe. "Immune! That's-"

"-Something you should probably keep to yourself," M advised. "If you spread word about... that around, there could be... _trouble_ for my family... not everyone is as kind and sensible as... you are, doctor," he warned her.

"Yes, of course, you're right," Martinez sighed. "In any case, you four should be ashamed of yourselves for sneaking off like that during such dangerous times."

"You're right, we're sorry, but is now any different than any other time?" R asked.

"That may be true, but this is the first time so many Boneys decided to camp around our city. That combined with those terrorists, who are _especially _looking for you two-" Martinez gestured to him and M, "-it's more so for you."

"We'll... take stronger precautions next time," Julie told her.

Martinez sighed and shook her head. She wasn't going to be able to stop them from being so reckless. The best she could really do was give them advice and mend their injuries when they got them. "Alright, just be careful next time... I don't want to see any of you in here for medical reasons for a long time, understood?" She told them sternly, they nodded in agreement and her eyes softened. "But you're more than welcomed to drop by for a visit," she smiled warmly, then let them go, thanking them for the very much needed medical supplies.

As the four exited the tent, Nora turned and smiled to them. "Why don't we have a picnic, all of us this time," she suggested.

"It's getting kind of late?" Julie reminded her.

"Who else has picnics for dinner? It would be fun! Like camping out! We could take kerosene lamps and sit around telling ghost stories," the older girl grinned.

"That sounds fun," R smiled.

"I'm game," M shrugged. "I have nothing better to do," he smiled at R's surprised look.

"Come on come on!" Nora grinned.

"Alright, sure..." Julie shrugged. And so, after they did a few errands, took care of some business, and stored _essential supplies _away, they reconvened in front of the apple orchard, holding a box of food, blankets, coats, and lamps. Fortunately it was a dry night, though still quite cool. R grinned and used the excuse of the cold night to drape his arm around Julie, pulling her close. Nora and M watched them with fond smiles as the four walked down the path to the 'picnic area'. They almost felt like parents to their young friends, both having taken care of or watched over them at some point.

As they spread the blankets and sat down, they shared in the meal and talked, joking with and teasing each other. All the while, R held Julie close to him, noticing her eyes straying to his arm every now and then, as if waiting for the cancerous black virus to spread through him again. So R decided to distract her. Every time her eyes would start to stray, his hand would brush against her arm, he'd nuzzle her, kiss her softly, or hold her tighter. After a while, Julie forgot all about her worry and just leaned against him, snuggling close, relaxing.

After a little while, they began to quiet down, gazing up at the startlingly clear and beautiful starry night sky. They turned off the lamps and watched the spectacle before them, listening to the gentle sounds of the night chorus around them. "Hey R?" Julie suddenly said, craning her neck to look over at him from her position resting against his chest.

"Yeah?" R answered softly.

"If you could be anything, anything you want, if none of this happened... what would it be?" She asked him. R stared at her with wide eyes for a moment. "What is it?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing, I just, thought I heard... nothing, nevermind," he shook his head. Her question was unnervingly similar to the one she asked Nora in his dream, or vision, or whatever that had been. This time she had asked _him _though. "I'm not sure," he shrugged. He didn't say what he remembered saying in his dream though, because both he already knew what he was and they _were _together. "I'm not sure what I'm even good at, or what possibilities exist out there for me..."

"Anything is possible," Nora told him. "What about a soldier or something? You seem pretty good at protecting people," she shrugged.

"Mr. Sensitive, ...a soldier?" M chuckled lightly.

R rolled his eyes at his friend's jab but he did sort of have a point. He didn't particularly like the idea all that much, not at all for of pain, death, and fear... not after so long of being responsible for inflicting so much of it. Any yet, admittedly, Nora had a point. The idea of being a part of something important, securing the lives of people, making up for his terrible past and helping to protect the people he cared about, keep them safe... it appealed to him quite a bit. It would be tough, he would see a lot of things he didn't want to anymore... any yet, he would also help _prevent _a lot of horrible things.

"Maybe..." R relented, surprising them a little. "I could help keep a lot of people from suffering," he shrugged.

"I'm not sure I like the idea of worrying about you all the time," Julie said gently.

"Isn't that my line?" R smirked a little.

"Naw, I'm much tougher than you," Julie snickered.

"She may have a point," M laughed.

"Hey! I'm plenty tough..." R sulked playfully, making the others laugh. "Does it... does it get easier though?" He asked softly. "The killing and fear..."

"It... doesn't exactly get _easy_, it never actually goes away, the fear, but you learn to live with it and sometimes even keep it from bothering you so much when you need it to," Julie explained.

R nodded, seeming to remember a very vague moment in his life, before his death, when he felt fear, when he felt anger, but had to carry on, hoping things would... well, not get better, but be less bad? R shook his head, feeling like he wasn't making sense to himself. "Anyway, I guess if I can learn to deal with it, then I can do it," he shrugged. The idea of controlling her fear of pain, killing, and death, of controlling his fear of himself... appealed to him.

"I should probably head back. There's still a lot of work to do and I've already missed a lot of my shift," Nora mentioned, getting up and stretching.

"I'll walk you there," M offered with a smile.

"That's not necessary," Nora shook her head, smiling fondly.

"I would feel horrible about letting a pretty woman like... yourself walking through dark streets all... alone," M insisted, then turned to R and Julie. "Will you two be okay? Need help taking that stuff... back?"

"Nah," Julie shook her head. "We'll be fine. We'll just um..."

"Take the stuff back to my place," R offered with a smile. Julie smiled back and nodded.

"Back to his place, eh?" Nora smirked. "Alright then... you kids don't stay up _too _late, alright?" She teased. "And if you _do_, do it at _his _apartment, I'm gunna want my peace and quiet when I get home to sleep!"

"Hey, we're not loud..." Julie muttered.

"_Well_..." R trailed off, getting a warning look from his girlfriend.

"Actually, I have it on good authority that you _are_..." Nora's brow rose in a challenge.

Oh right, Nora had almost walked in on Julie and Perry once before. "...Right..." Julie blushed.

"Anyway, have fun kiddies! Don't wake the city! Tah!"

"Break a leg, lover-boy!" M teased R. Nora and M once again laughed as they walked off.

Julie covered her face with her hand, trying to hide her blush. "Those two are-"

"-Perfect for each other," R finished for her, his own blush tinting his cheeks.

They sat for a while longer, simply looking up at the amazingly clear sky around them. Julie pointed at several constellations, quizzing him, seeing how much he knew or remembered. Surprisingly, little facts like what the big dipper or Orion's belt was called and where they were, came easier to R these days. He still couldn't remember really deep things, such as his death or his past, but every day things he could remember better. A while later, they gathered the things, and walked back to the apartment, hand-in-hand.

"Are you... how is your arm?" Julie asked quietly.

"Julie, you don't need to worry so much. I'm fine," he smiled reassuringly.

"How can I not worry if everyone I ever care about seems to meet some tragic fate?" Julie frowned.

"I was dead already. You brought me back to life... that has to count for something, right?" He reminded her.

Julie nodded slowly, a little smile peeking through her gloom. She then saw a very thoughtful and slightly pained look in his eyes. "What is it?" she asked in concern.

"No it's nothing it's- I... I just remembered some things... flashes, very brief, like someone waving a picture in front of your face. You don't see what it is, but you can tell the basic shapes and that it has color..." he frowned, trying to find the words to what he was trying to say.

"What are you talking about?"

"I remember what it felt like to die. When I first... began to change..." R clarified. "I don't remember how, why, or when it happened, but I remember the feeling of the virus inside me. It was like some kind of negative energy, some darkness clawing its way inside me... it felt horrible, like cold, broken shards of glass under my skin..." R shuddered. "When I got bitten... it felt a little like that for the first few seconds, but then it went away."

"I thought you felt pain after that too?"

"Yeah, but it was different. The virus might have been like negative energy, but what I felt fighting it could be described as positive I guess," he shrugged. "It felt different, alive... made me feel stronger," he smiled at her. "So stop worrying, okay?"

"Alright," Julie smiled, her voice a whisper, squeezing his hand.

He stopped them and cupped her cheek. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be here... always keep you safe," he said with conviction. Julie visibly relaxed and smiled. R smiled back and leaned in, kissing her gently. When they pulled away they both felt better. And so they resumed their walk, both leaning against one another comfortingly. As they neared their destination, their steps were a little quicker the closer they got. They gave each other knowing looks as they stepped inside and practically ran up the flight of stairs, skipping steps as they went, laughing all the way.

They didn't even make it two steps into the apartment before their hands were on each other again. R kicked the door closed, not even managing to lock it, his keys dropping from his hand from the frantic kiss and intense need. He tossed the things he carried unconcernedly next to the door just as Julie grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulling him harder against her as they back up into the bedroom. R was surprised when Julie all but shoved him onto the bed. He had just enough time to lift himself up on his elbows before Julie crawled onto his lap again, attacking him lips with a fiery enthusiasm. After a moment, Julie sat up, hurriedly unbuckling R's pants with precise, quick fingers. "Julie," R groan.

"It's been too long," Julie agreed playfully. Maybe it had something to do with the scare earlier. Maybe it had something to do with her own insecurities... whatever it was, she just felt like she needed him tonight more than ever.

"Sure this will... be enough..?" R asked half-jokingly, gesturing to the little box nearby as he lay practically sprawled over the bed with Julie on his lap. Not that he was trying very hard to do anything about it.

"For the moment at least..." Julie grinned. She squeaked in surprise when she suddenly found herself underneath him again, a playful smile stretching his alluring lips. Julie's brow rose when he took her hands in his to stop her from undressing him. He smiled and shook his head. Julie relaxed and nodded, letting him have his way. She had been frantic, wanting him that very moment, but R had other plans.

Always the romantic, R wanted to take things slow, enjoy the experience to the fullest extent. Julie was completely fine with that, she needed to work on patience anyway. He pulled her in for a kiss and she melted against him, at his feather touch and loving embrace. They slowed down. Clothes off, lights off, little box of 'safety' nearby, sheets a tangled mess between them, the lovers dove into their passion for each other, reassuring themselves that they were alive and everything was going to be just fine. Until they ran out of condoms again that is...

Susan Martinez had just gotten to work earlier than normal the next morning.

She set her old worn leather bag of papers and work materials down and began her rounds. Most of her patience were doing very well. Since there were so few attacks from Boneys lately, and there were no more hostile zombies around, it made her job easier. The fact that so many former zombies were experiencing rebirths and very similar pain to what R had gone through kept her on her toes though. Unfortunately, like with R, there wasn't much she or any other medical staff could do for them but help them feel more comfortable.

Stepping through a curtain to check on a regular, she paused and stared in shock at the empty cot. "Oh no..." she let out in a whisper and turned to run... but her path was blocked.

"Thanks for fix'n me an' my brother up, doc!"

"Tommy!" Martinez gasped, then felt a very hard bash against her head. She fell to the ground, everything going black.

_TBC..._

* * *

**A/N:** OH NOES! Looks like another cliffy!

I'm sorry this chapter was so short! I didn't think it would be, I had split it off chapter 18 when I thought it would be too long... drat. Personally, I'm not happy with how this chapter turned out. It was mostly just fluff. It felt empty to me, but at least the next one will be interesting, hehehe. Anyway. I call you guys perverts, and yet two chapter I wrote (which originally wasn't even part of the outline but I wanted to extend the story) revolved around R and Julie looking for more birth control... to have more "alone time" ...I guess I'm a tiny bit of a hypocrite! XD

By the way, I'm really starting to get fond of Dr. Martinez lol.

If any of you are the artistic types and want to make fan-art of my story and my OC's, you're more than welcome to! I'd love to see what you come up with :D

Shout-Outs: I LOVE YOU ALL! Forgive me if I don't shout-out to you!

**Warmbodies1d:** If nothing else they have very compatible "funny bones" XD

**coadhpgg:** Julie accused R of being insatiable and R told her it wasn't JUST his fault they ran out lol. It was very little really, not a new box. I should have clarified.

**MaddiegreeN:** Yep, once R's engine in on, it's on at full gear! LOL Jeez...

**GarnetAles:** Most definitely. Yeah they ran out quick lol but really they only had a handful...

**OmatikayaClan:** Of course! They're both young and R rediscovered his ...needs? LOL ehem.

**brigid1318:** They're both very fun to work with and even more when they team up lol. I wouldn't say super healing but yeah lol what I'm using mostly is stuff from the book there, in the book it's like the virus transformed... I chose to keep them in Washington, maybe Seattle, I dunno :) From washington to south of California it could take a while, and I meant round-trip.

**Surely Sherlocked:** I can't remember. I think M just introduces himself to Nora or maybe to the three of them...

**No One:** I love the show lol but it's been on before I even heard of Warm Bodies ...the book :P (I had heard of little bits that they were making a movie about a zombie falling in love with a human, which really pissed me off at the time lol before I knew anything about it), but really, I love The Walking Dead mostly because it's character driven and has lots of character development! Good stuff! I don't think it'd be contagious like that, since I assume when the virus was "transformed" it stopped being transmittable... eh, I dunno.


	20. Chapter 20

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

**Note! It is highly recommended you search "Hans Zimmer – Time" on YouTube for this chapter!**

**A/N: WARNING! **Very Adult themes! Blood, torture, strong language and threats!

* * *

What felt like hours later, Susan Martinez stirred, groaning slightly in pain as consciousness returned to her. Opening her eyes and covering her face quickly to keep the light away, she tried to figure out what happened and where she was. The last thing she remembered was seeing... oh no! That's right! Tommy! Martinez gasped and tried to sit up but a gentle hand pushed her back down.

"Hey, easy there. I'm glad you're awake, Susan, we were starting to get really worried!"

Martinez pulled her hand away and squinted to see around herself. She found herself lying on one of the cots. She cringed, feeling like she had a hangover. She was old and experienced enough to remember what those felt like unfortunately. "N-Nora?" Martinez winced, reaching up to rub her head and glare at the entirely too bright lights around her. Uh oh, that wasn't a good sign! It felt like she had been smacked with a hardcover book. At least she wasn't bleeding. "Am I-"

"You're fine. We had no idea what was wrong with you though. Me and Mary came in to work and you were lying motionless on the floor," the younger woman frowned in concern. "We had to run basic tests... unfortunately, as you know, we couldn't run a complete one. It would help if we had some bigger equipment, like a CAT-Scan, you know?"

Martinez felt slightly relieved that they couldn't scan her head. "Oh, I've... been so busy, I ...haven't had the chance to eat much. I must have passed out..." she said, trying to come up with an excuse. She did _not _want to worry the girl needlessly. She would go get help and once it was being seen to, _then _she would warn them. Nora didn't look convinced, but she didn't argue at least.

"Whoa, where are you going?" Nora stepped in front of the older woman before she could stand up.

"I was going to go get some Carbtein. I need to be somewhere, important things to do and all," Martinez sighed, trying to sound as unhurried and calm as she could.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Nora asked softly.

"I'm sure," Martinez smiled at the girl warmly. "Go on, go help someone who needs it, okay?" Nora nodded in understanding and left her in peace. Martinez quickly stood, shooting her hand to the back of the chair near her bed to steady herself. She hoped she didn't have a concussion, though it was probably very likely... which meant after this, she would have to go sit down and rest. Hopefully it wasn't too bad though. She grabbed her things and left in a rush. It was fortunate that she didn't need permission to go into the command center... being the chief surgeon and all. Slipping in she found her target in the General's office, looking over reports, a very serious expression on his normally kind face. "Colonel?"

"Susan, what can I do for you?" Rosso asked without looking up.

"We may have a problem. A serious one," Martinez told him.

"What is it?" Rosso looked up then, his bushy white brows furrowing.

"Tommy Brown woke up sometime this morning. I wouldn't have thought it a problem if he hadn't attacked me soon after," she frowned. "I've seen the look in his eyes before he knocked me out cold. It was the eyes of someone after revenge. I think he may be planning something..."

"Yes... I suspected as much," Rosso sighed. "Those damn Brown brothers," he scoffed, getting up from the desk and grabbing his coat.

"What's wrong? Why do you say that?" Martinez asked in surprise.

"His brother is gone too. His cell was broken in to and the guard was found out cold this morning as well," Rosso scratched the gray bristle on his cheek. "I thought it was an isolated incident. I was actually going to send someone to check on his brother, but I got side-tracked. I'm going to go put a search detail on and scout the perimeter of the city. Did you tell anyone?"

"No, I didn't want to worry anyone," Martinez shook her head.

"Good. It'll be no help having people paranoid and worried," Rosso nodded.

"I'll head back to the infirmary now, please let me know if you find anything?"

"Of course," Rosso smiled half-heartedly and walked out.

Susan Martinez sat at her little folding table, her 'desk', and tried to take her mind off of what happened this morning. Rosso had things under control. She was sure it was just... boys being boys... right? She hoped to God it was, she couldn't imagine what would happen if they went back to the 'Purists' and stirred up further trouble while John was gone! Rosso was a capable substitute, but he wasn't quite as fierce and commanding as John Grigio. Unfortunately, Rosso was _not _able to find anything of substance. No sign of the two men anywhere, but they would keep looking.

Elsewhere, it was another very pleasant morning for Julie and R as they woke up in each others arms again. They spent the first few minutes simply laying in the warmth of R's small bed, holding each other. Julie smiled over at him and went to get up, but like every morning, R refused to give her up. "R? You go back to work today, remember?" Julie smiled, her hand resting over his steadily beating heart.

"...Yeah..." R muttered. Normally he would be thrilled about going back to work, but he would _much _rather stay in bed with Julie.

"I have a few shifts at the bar too. We should probably get up..." she told him.

"Do we _have_ to?" R pouted for a moment, then smiled, pulling her in for a kiss. Julie resisted for a second, knowing from experience that he would try to distract her, play on her weakness for him and get carried away... but she had to be strong! She had to... oh but the things this boy did with his hands...

"R..." Julie scolded gently, pulling away just slightly and stopped his hands from roaming. R stilled as usual, giving her a look that could be described as a cross between a hurt puppy and a chastised little boy. She didn't know how he managed such an expression but it broke her heart every time. Damn. He was good! "We're going to be late..." she told him. Since when did she become to responsible? Maybe almost dying multiple times really woke up that mature side of her? Maybe. Even so, she didn't stop him from rolling over and pinning her underneath him.

"We have plenty of time..." R mentioned distractedly, leaning over her to lay soft kisses on her shoulder, caressing her long locks of golden hair out of the way.

"We don't..." Julie protested weakly, her hands on his shoulders as if she were trying to push him away, but made no move to. "R..." Julie forced herself to push on him a little, making him stop with a groan. R dutifully rolled back over onto his back and sighed, bending to her wishes. Julie cracked a smile at his sulking. "God, R! You're a machine, you know that?" Julie shook her head.

R looked over at her, seeing her head down and shaking. "I-I'm sorry," his eyes widened slightly, mistaking her actions for irritation, thinking he had gone too far. The last thing he ever wanted to do was force Julie to do something she didn't want. A few seconds later, he frowned slightly when Julie threw back her head and started laughing. "Um..."

"R! I'm not upset with you!" She snickered and leaned in to kiss his confused face. "I _like _that you're so... _needy_..." she smirked.

"...Oh..." R blushed, smiling shyly. Again, Julie couldn't help finding him incredibly adorable at times like this. Funny how he could be irresistibly sexy at one point, and then morph into this preciously cute puppy the next...

"Come on, buddy," Julie pat him on the shoulder encouragingly and took him arm, playfully pulling him off the bed with her... though she had to really brace herself to be able to do this, as he had been steadily growing heavier the more he filled out. R helped her out and stood, smirking a little at how his shirt that she wore to cover herself during the cold night, draped over her like a nightgown. For some reason, Julie wearing his shirt was probably the sexiest thing he had ever seen her wear. He shook his head and got ready for the day with her, being good and keeping his hands off her... or they'd never leave for work!

R and Julie met up with Nora on their way to work, before they split up and went in separate directions. "What's up?" Julie greeted her friend, who had a very odd look on her face.

"Not much, except that me and Mary found Susan passed out on the floor today..." Nora frowned in concern.

"What?" Julie looked alarmed.

"_What happened_?" R demanded, blushing when the girls gave him a curious look. "What? She's really nice to me..." R didn't want to further embarrass himself by admitting she was the closest he had for a mother.

"Everyone is really nice to you. You're too sweet to not be nice to," Julie snickered. Most guys probably wouldn't exactly like being labeled as sweet all the time, but to R it was far better than being labeled a monster, besides... she had a point.

"Not _everyone _is nice to me..." R said in a dark tone, no doubt referring to the 'Purists'.

"Everyone that matters," Nora chipped in. "Anyway, she claimed that she hadn't eaten much lately and passed out, but... I'm not sure. She seemed evasive..."

"Maybe she was just embarrassed?" Julie offered.

"...Maybe," Nora frowned. "I should get back to work, I'll see you guys later," she waved at them and headed back toward the 'clinic'.

"Think you're up to all the heavy lifting?" Julie asked curiously.

"Sure! The bullet wound your dad... uh, the injury I had before healed in about a week too," he shrugged fully as emphasis, smiling triumphantly. "I'm probably just going to take the bandage off later. What about you?" He asked, gesturing to her leg.

"I can barely feel it," Julie answered.

"You can barely feel your leg? Well that's not good," he chuckled.

"You know what I meant, cheeseball," she stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'll see you at lunch time?" R smiled.

"You bet!" Julie curled her finger at him, beckoning him to lean into her for a kiss. R was only too happy to oblige. When they said their 'see you laters' they split up and headed off toward their respective jobs, giving each other longing glances as they left in opposite directions.

R was surprised when he was greeted cheerfully when he got to work. He hadn't had the chance to meet most of the men and the handful of women there, but they already seemed to know him. Maybe they had been at the party a while ago? He felt a little shameful for not knowing their names. They had probably even stopped by to thank him for his efforts to save John, too! With a determined twinkle in his eyes, he decided that he would make a better effort at getting to know people, at least the people he worked with! Walking into the construction site, he was greeted just as cheerfully by his 'boss'.

"R! Good to see you're all better," Eddie, R's team leader, greeted him.

"I'm glad to be back doing something useful," R smiled back.

"That's good to hear, we've really missed your dedication," the older man chuckled. "Come on, I'll show you where you can be the most help!"

Several hours later, Julie Grigio sighed in relief when she stepped out into the street. "I'll see you later," she waved at a local bar attendee who walked out with her and said goodbye. She had just gotten off a shift as a bartender and was looking forward to going over to where R was working to have lunch with him. She smiled at Kevin who gave her a knowing look and signaled the gate to be open. Today R was helping to reinforce the back part of one of the building that made up the wall. She had just stepped into the alley outside of the gate, when everything went wrong.

Julie gasped as a rough hand grabbed her shoulder from behind, and tried to put her in a lock. Luckily, being trained by her father himself to fight, Julie knew just what to do. Shoving her arm through the small space between his arm that tried to hold her still and turning her body ever so slightly, she wedged herself and forced out of the hold. As soon as she was free she made her arm taunt and struck backwards as she turned quickly. The back of her fist collided with a nose. "Gugh!" A man's voice yelped and Julie turned to see Tommy holding a bloody nose.

"The fuck?" Julie gasped, not expecting to see that bastard again.

"You little bitch!" Tommy snapped and used his free arm to try to grab at her again. Julie ducked under him and spared no time to rush forward and slam her elbow into his already injured face. The shock of pain sent Tommy falling on his ass.

"Who's the bitch now?" Julie taunted.

"You are!"

Julie didn't have the time to turn this time when she was caught in a hold. Someone had come up behind and had locked her arms behind her. Tommy stood, blood trailing down his face, and back-handed her. Julie's head snapped to the side from the strike, but she turned back and glared at the man in rage.

"Nice job, Derrick," Tommy spat blood that got into his mouth. "So, the little bitch has fight in her, eh? I always knew you could kick ass, darlin', didn't know you could kick human ass though," he smirked, making his face look even more gruesome.

"I can certainly kick _your _ass," Julie glared. "Now let me go!"

"No, I don't think so. You'll make a good candidate..."

"For _what_?" Julie growled, still trying to jab Derrick with her elbows.

"For a breeder of course," the bloody man chuckled darkly.

"_You're insane_!" Julie gaped, horrified.

"No way. The kids that come from you are bound to be tough little brats," Derrick leered, his voice by her ear. "Bet it would be fun to knock you up, too," he chuckled, pulling her a little closer. "I wonder who's going to have the... pleasure..." he smirked, licking the shell of her ear. "Pity that corpse already _violated_ you..."

Julie jerked in his grip, managing to slam her head back against his face. The grip loosened for a second but Derrick quickly grabbed her again and Tommy slapped her once more for her trouble. Julie spat on him in retaliation. "I'm going to castrate both of you and then beat you with your own _dicks_!" Julie snarled.

"...Yeah, right," Tommy snorted, wiping blood and spit off his face. "Time to go, sweet-cheeks... say goodbye to all that willful attitude you like to fling around so much. It's not going to be tolerated where you're going!" He glared, then stuffed a sock in her mouth and pulled a bag roughly over her head. Once he was sure she couldn't call for help or see where they were taking her, he gestured for his brother to take her to the waiting car.

R had just gotten off work, rubbing his sore neck with a sigh of content. Today was a hard day of work after so long of not using his strength, but it felt good to stretch his abilities like that and be useful. "Hey Kevin... have you seen Julie? She didn't come by for lunch like she said she would? Is she having a busy day at work?" R asked as he stepped through the gate.

Kevin walked over, a grim look on his face. "R..." he didn't know how to begin. How could he possible tell R this?

"What is it..?" R frowned, seeing the deep shame and sick worry in the older man's face.

"We found- the thing is... Julie... she's..." Kevin stampered.

"What? What about her?" R demanded as the older man walked alongside him.

Kevin took a deep breath and looked R square in the eyes, stopping him in his tracks. "She's been kidnapped. I would bet money on that it was by Purists, if I had any."

"WHAT?" R balked. "You... -you were on watch?!" He asked in an accusing tone.

"I... I didn't- I hadn't been looking down the alley... she went to see you and- R! WAIT!" The young man had taken off toward the gate. Kevin cursed and ran after him.

"Open the door!" R slammed his fist against the gate. "I said open it, damn it!"

A startled guard was about to do just that when Kevin ran over. "Belay that!" He yelled.

R whirled around to glare daggers at him. "What are you doing?! We have to go after her!" He screamed.

"Do you know where she is? Do you know how you'll get her back?" Kevin challenged, silencing his young friend. "We need a _plan_, R, we can't just run out there and look blindly. We need backup."

R's face crumbled. "...What... what do we do?" He asked, his breath coming in short from panic.

Kevin grimaced at the look of complete loss and grief in R's face. "Come on, let's go round up some men and look for clues," Kevin suggested gently, walking over and placing a hand on R's shoulder. R let himself be guided back down the street, toward the command central.

Scott Kimberley had been having a very interesting day that day. After spending some time 're-educating' one of the willful women of their little 'family', he had been present to the very pleasant spectacle of his men bringing in a potential new member! And it was someone he knew well, to boot! Someone he had been wanting to get his hands on... He leaned toward her, getting right into her face. "Julie Grigio..." he began with a deep scowl. "I don't see what my son saw in you, you're nothing but a plain little thing... barely anything to grab onto. Still, my men tell me you have some fire in you, this is good, 'means you'll have good _material _to offer," he nodded. "We need strong men to defend and help to repopulate this world. You'll help produce them."

"Over my Goddamn body you megalomaniac pompous sexist asshole. Go to hell, fucker," Julie answered, her eyes narrowing in rage.

"Already in it, sweetheart," he smiled humorlessly. "You'll learn your place soon enough. That dirty mouth of yours will need to be cleaned, thoroughly," he sneered.

"You sick fuck! When R-"

"-That corpse isn't going to get anywhere near you, I'm afraid," he smirked.

"He'll come. He'll find a way, he always has. And when he _does_ find you, he'll kill you. You and all your girlscouts," Julie spat. Okay so she may be exaggerating a little, truthfully, she didn't know if R had it in him to kill, not after all he'd had to endure as a zombie... but she remembered seeing the fury and blood-lust in his eyes when he fought Tommy, knew that if he was pushed far enough, he could very well snap... as horrible as it was, she was hoping he would.

"Oh I'm sure. It's what any good little undead freak would do, isn't it? In any case, I hope he'll come! We have a nice little surprise planned for him and his friends when they follow the little trail we left for them..." He smiled cruelly. "Show her to her cell," he nodded to one of the guards.

Colonel Rosso didn't much like the idea of R going with Kevin and his group to search for Julie, but he could see the fiery conviction in the young man's eyes and knew he would find a way to sneak out if he wasn't allowed to anyway. So he allowed it. It would probably do him some good anyway, keep himself useful instead of sitting on idle hands. He set Kevin in charge, knowing the young lieutenant would be a capable leader and knew how smart he was.

Kevin had gathered a handful of men who he thought would be the best qualified and set out. A little while ago, they had found suspicious looking clues just outside of the gate, in a dirty alley. Since they really didn't have much else to go on, they cautiously began following it. "This is probably a trap..." Kevin told his men.

"A... A trap might still mean it'll lead close to their hideout, right?" R questioned, his face still contorted in painful dread.

"Possibly," Kevin sighed. He didn't want to get his friend's hopes up but it _was _possible. They made their way steadily, still following the trail, creeping through the city and watching for retaliation. What they hadn't been expecting, which was very foolish of them, was attacks by Boneys! "Form up on me!" Kevin yelled, but the Boneys, despite moving as if they had too much to drink, were already on top of them, having flanked them.

They were particularly drawn to R, trying their best to maim him. One of them managed to trip him, sending him falling to the ground, his shotgun skidding across the floor. R quickly stuck his foot out, keeping the skeleton horror from biting him. He swung his fist, punching the terror in it's head, forcing it off him. He got to his feet, grabbing his shotgun again and blasting it apart. He began to turn to help the others, but someone shouted a warning at him.

"Above you!"

R spun away quickly, the Boney that had tried to surprise him falling to the floor next to him. R took his weapon and slammed the end of it into the slow moving Boney, repeatedly bashing it in the head. Black gunk splattered all over his protective vest and part of his face but he didn't care. "Dude! It's dead!" One of the soldiers nearby said, but R would not stop slamming it's skull with his weapon. Finally spent, he stopped and gasped for breath, tears running down his face. "Come on, man... we need to keep moving..." the man said softly, nudging R onward again.

Elsewhere, Julie was still not having a very good day. A fist collided with Julie's stomach, making her breath leave her in a rush. Her body tried bending to lessen the pain, but she was held fast. "That's what you get for knocking me on my ass, bitch," Tommy glared. He felt enraged when she managed to smirk at him, despite the obvious pain she was in.

"S-S'the least you... deserve... asshole..." Julie gasped. "Oh hit me again, I love ...it!" she taunted him. She knew it was stupid to provoke him, but she wasn't about to give up. She was sure someone would come... if they did not, she'd just have to die, simple as that, she would _not _give in though, no way in hell! She wasn't raised to give up so easily and she hadn't gone through her dad's severe training to withstand the apocalypse to give into pain!

"God, you just won't shut up, will you!" Tommy scoffed, glancing toward Scott who nodded in approval. Tommy pulled his hand back and went to slap her again but just as his hand neared her face, she jerked her head back and snapped her teeth down on his hand. For the first time in her life, she wished she was a zombie! Imagine that! Tommy shouted in pain and jerked his back back. "You almost took my finger off you slut!" Tommy yelled.

"Almost? ...Pity..." Julie sighed in exhaust and groaned in pain when another punch to her stomach nearly made her lose her breakfast, as long ago as it had been. Julie refused to cry, refused to give them that satisfaction. She didn't go through hell and back just for a few 'little slaps' to make her cry like a little girl!

"I'm going to make you pay, you little whore. You're not gunna get any mercy from me when I get my hands on you!" Tommy growled. "I'm going to break you and then leave you in shambles!"

"Tommy. That's enough for now. Take her to her cell," Scott sighed in what was almost disappointment. "No food or water. Then you can try again tomorrow, don't worry, she'll break eventually," he smirked. Julie gaped at him but her vision was once again blocked by a bag over her head and she was roughly shoved down the hall again.

Later that night, the group stopped by a ruined apartment building and after making sure it was unoccupied, settled down for the night. Kevin watched R pace like a caged animal in the dull light of the kerosene lamp. "We should still be searching!" He muttered mostly to himself, running his hand through his hair in agitation. His eyes were wild and wide with panic. "She's out there. They have her...-"

"We _can't_ go out there right now, R. It's too dark. I'm... I'm sorry, it's my call," Kevin told him in a voice of utter regret. R let out of growl of frustration, kicking a rotten chair hard, knocking it over. The other soldiers watched in silence, not used to seeing the normally cheerful young man so torn up. R paused, as if to collect himself, then turned and went into one of the vacant rooms. One of the men stood to try to see if he could help, but Kevin shook his head. "Leave the man alone..." he said sadly.

R sat on a rotten mattress, staring at his hands. Hands that had held her just this morning. How had she slipped out of his grasp like that? How could he break his promise to her again and again? He was suppose to keep her safe! He promised he would keep her _safe_! "SHIT!" he suddenly howled, his head drawn back to glare tearfully at the ceiling. He normally didn't like cursing, didn't like how it spoiled the beauty of language, also figuring it didn't make anything better to do so... but tonight it just made him feel better to scream it. But only very slightly.

Would they make it on time? What were those bastards doing to her? Why did they kidnap her? To get to him? Hell, they could have him! They could skin him alive if they just let her go back home, let her stay safe. "Julie..." R muttered brokenly, collapsing on his side on the bare mattress. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks, his body wracked with silent sobs as sleep mercifully took him.

_TBC..._

* * *

**A/N:** Oh my gosh! Julie! And Poor R! Come on, you can say it, I'm one evil bitch! LOL! I am SO sorry for all the graphic suggestions! It's part of me trying to do things realistically, I needed to make sure you people knew how serious a situation she's in... feel free to vent on me. Again, chapter inspired by "Time" by Hans Zimmer. If you haven't listened to it yet, go find it on YouTube! It's from the Inception soundtrack. Oh and I may have made Julie a bit too tough, I was kind of following how I imagined her character from the book might react to this situation... I may have gone overboard though?

Curse The Walking Dead and it's power to inspire me! ...To tell you the truth, the game "Fallout New Vegas" kind of inspired this chapter too... don't ask lol. All my fellow gamers say HEY-OH! XD

Shout-Outs: FFS! Over 300 reviews! I'm going to burst with love for you people! XD HUGS AND KISSES TO YOU ALL!

**coadhpgg:** Lol! Agreed, Tommy's certainly very annoying... :)

**warmbodies1d:** Who wouldn't be needy with a boyfriend like him LOL! Ehem. Gotta put a leash on my little fangirl monster inside me sometimes, can't let it go rampant or it'll just embarrass me! XD

**Katie T:** Yes! I suppose some fluff was good before this horribly tense chapter lol I just love taking you people on a roller-coaster of emotions! I HEART The Walking Dead but the Governor needs to DIE... lol to tell you the truth, I based Scott on him lol. I wouldn't be one of those people, I would be the type that very quickly searches for a boat and gets the hell out of dodge... Or maybe even builds one!

**brigid1318:** It most certainly was the calm before the storm! Right you are! Yes, they're not quite so frustrated anymore, are they? Now that their needs are being met daily lol! Yeah after the end of the movie, I saw how at peace and calm they were with each other... that in my mind means lots and lots of sex lol! No one can look that calm with someone that hot (and I'm talking about both, they're both gorgeous people!) and not be getting some!

**Rue Bladesinger:** Awesome! I can't wait to see what you come up with :P :D

**loss of control:** Thank you! I appreciate your attempt to communicate with me! :)

**No One:** I'm not even going to begin to explain the negative feelings I have for twilight, I don't want to be rude lol. I just thought it was absurd, I would never in a trillion years compare (anything) this to twilight, that's not what I thought at all. I just thought Hollywood was being their usual retarded selves lol. Calm before the storm, you're not the first who detected that! You were both right! XD "Do well" HAHAHA! Ahh, when I read that I had to laugh evily, so how'd I do? This chapter "well" enough for ya? Muahahaha!

**KryptoniteBoy:** Aww, thanks! You're so sweet! XD


	21. Chapter 21

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

**Warning! **Strong language, violence, and blood!

* * *

"_R!" R ran as fast as he could, but his legs were dead and unresponsive. "R help me!" Julie screamed for him but the closer he got, the further she seemed to really be. All around her were sinister forms, but they were not undead, they were very much alive, taunting and hurting her. _

"_Let her... go!" he tried to scream, but all that came out of his rotten lips was the glutteral moan of a zombie._

"_Look! Another corpse! Kill it!" One of the men growled, lifting his pistol up. "Oh it's _that _corpse, hahaha! Look at him, he thinks he can save her!"_

_"Maybe we should give him a little show before we kill him, eh?"_

_"Ah! ...Stop it!" Julie cringed, trying to shy away from the evil men, but she was trapped..._

_"Leave... her alone...!" R groaned, tears welling in his eyes._

_"Aww look at it, it looks like it's going to cry! Ah, let's just put it out of our misery..."_

"_No! R!" Julie's tears flowed freely down her swollen cheeks._

"_Let... her go! Let her... go!" R's heart cried with Julie, but he was again unable to get anything comprehensible out, just growls and groans. And then the shot was fired, the last thing he saw where the men turning their evil intentions back toward their captured prey..._

"_R!'_

R shot up from his sleep, gasping and panting for breath, sweat coating him. "_No!_ No! Julie!" He pulled himself out of bed in a panicked rush. Not caring who he woke or what time it was, he ran out of the room. He was relieved and horrified to find that there was a dull bit of morning daylight streaming in through the dirty windows. How long had they slept? Far too long in R's opinion. "Hey! Let's go! Get up! Get up!" he said to the still sleeping soldiers, all but tripping over the junk lying all over the ruined floor while he frantically put his gear back on, grabbing his shotgun.

"R?" Kevin yawned, confused for a moment. His memory soon returned to him and he as well quickly got up, kicking the boots of the other men. "Come on, people! We a lost soldier to rescue!" he yelled at his troops. R was slightly pleased that the older man didn't refer to Julie as a 'maiden in distress' or 'the general's daughter'... but only a little, he was much to concerned about just getting to her and making those who took her pay.

They got their things and headed out again in the very early morning light. They found their path again, even though they knew it was probably going to lead right to a trap, they continued to follow it. They kept a steady job, trying to be silent but trying to be fast as well. They heard hissing in the distance, somewhere behind a building maybe, followed by rustling. Kevin glanced to the side and saw a couple Boneys shambling toward them, but they were moving far too slowly now to be a threat, so they ignored them. They had no time to wonder what was going on with the Boneys, but they could almost _feel _the hatred coming off those horrors. One of them seemed desperately furious at them, especially when they were ignored, and took off after them.

"Boney!" One of the soldiers yelled. It was closer to R's side now. "R! Look out!' R stuck his hands up and grabbed the Boney as it slammed into him. They tumbled to the ground but R wrestled it under him, unstrapped his shotgun from his shoulder and once again bashed another Boney in the head. He didn't slow down though, after the Boney stopped movie, he got back up, slinging his shotgun over his shoulder once more, and took off again. They were closer to the Purist's hideout than they originally though, taking them just two hours to find it. It was a large abandoned dock warehouse near the coast. The closer they got, the more they could smell rotten fish, oil and whale blubber.

"This way..." Kevin whispered to them, leading them around the warehouse. The entrance was too suspiciously unguarded. Circling around, they could just make out a few old dog cages around the building. By the way it smelled and the cages rattled angrily, they knew it was not dogs. "Looks like they were planning to set a trap for us, look!" Kevin pointed to the ground around the entrance. All over the floor was trash and waste, but underneath it were pressure plates and trip-wires. "Looks like they weren't aware of how easily Boneys could be dealt with now..." he muttered.

"Scott was the only vet that left... right?" One of the soldiers of the fairer-sex asked.

"I think a few others went with him too," Kevin shook his head. "But I don't think they ever ventured very far from their warehouse. I saw a lot of unlooted building as we went..." Kevin explained. "Which probably means they didn't have as many encounters with them," he shrugged.

"It also means they're weaker from the lack of food," another soldier smirked.

"Don't get cocky, they could still surprise us," Kevin scolded. "Come on, let's try to find a _guarded_ area..." he ordered.

"...Why guarded?" R questioned in confusion.

"Guarded means less traps," Kevin shrugged. "At least, I hope so. In any case, if we take them out quickly and quietly, it also means less men to worry about..." And so they crept toward a more guarded area. Kevin gave one of the soldiers a signal, who nodded to him and made her way into a building. They stayed still and silent until they heard gunfire go off. One of the guards on the room fell to his death, startling the others. Kevin gave the signal to attack and they swept in. R hesitated for a moment, seeing the familiar look of fear in the man's eyes as he lifted his shotgun toward him. Fortunately he didn't have to see it for long, Kevin shot him for him. "You can't hesitate, man. It's life or death no matter how you slice it," he chided him as gently as he could. "Get over it and quick."

R squared his jaw and nodded, willing the look of fear in the man's face to go away, leave his thoughts. He took a breath and nodded to Kevin, then followed them into the warehouse quietly. A few women were nearby and they raised their weapons, but the women didn't move an inch, didn't speak up, just stared at them with a hopeful, almost pleading look. It was then they noticed the blood stains and bruises on them. "What the hell..." one of the soldiers with them muttered. Those women were practically in rags, each doing some kind of menial task. One of them saw R and pointed to a door in the far hall. R saw the look of alarm and determination in her eyes and nodded.

"R- wait!" Kevin cursed again but followed him. "Damn impatient kid..." Kevin sighed. He gestured some of the soldiers to head around, surround the place if they could and relied on the women, obviously eager to help, to guide them through it. When they got to the door, Kevin placed his hand on his shoulder, stopping him and signaling him to listen. They pressed their ears against the door and held their breaths.

"...forced himself on you, am I right? Bet you liked it... bet you liked the smell of death all around you..." That was Tommy. "Maybe if I beat you half to death you'll-"

"-Go... fuck... yourself..." Julie's voice cut in. She was clearly tired and sounded pained as she spoke.

"Why would I do that when I have a nice little prize here to do it for me?" Tommy taunted. "You and I are gunna have some fun..."

"...I'd... sooner... fuck a Boney..." Julie spat.

"Hah! I'm sure you would!" Tommy chuckled. "Well, anyway, it doesn't matter. I'm going to have fun with you whether you like it or not. Now, it's time for your lessons..." there was a sound of wood scraping the floor.

"Get... off!" Julie's voice was indignant.

R bristled, his breathing hard with anger. "Now!" he hissed at Kevin, who nodded in agreement. They burst through the door, firing on the guards nearby, and stopped when they saw what was going on.

Julie was tied up in an old chair in the center of the room. She looked completely exhausted and had a tiny cuts on her cheeks that bled trails down to her neck, bruises dotting her neck and wrists where she was tied up. They had beaten her... Tommy was at the moment all but sitting on her lap on the hair, his face inches from her's while his hand was under her shirt. R felt impossible rage within him and was only stopped from going on a rampage, -or more precisely, going zombie and literally tearing him to pieces- when Julie gave him a subtle shake of her head. His eyes asked her if she was crazy for stopping him, and she managed a tiny smile and a little shrug, even as a few rebellious tears slid down her stained cheeks.

"Well well! If it isn't the little corpse!" Tommy sneered, laying a wet and sloppy kiss on Julie's abused cheek before lifting off her, stepping away before she could retaliate while whiping his lips from her blood. "How do you like my little pet?" he smirked. "I was just about to break her in..."

"Let. Her. Go," R enunciated, making sure they understood and heard him clearly. His shotgun trained on Tommy's chest. This wasn't his dream, he had control here! He would _not_ let Julie suffer anymore! He would reach her in time this time! No matter what the cost!

"Let her go? Hmm, nah, you know, I think I like her just where she is for now," Tommy smiled cruelly. "I mean, later I might like her underneath me... or bent-"

"That's enough, Tommy," Scott's voice interrupted, having heard the commotion. He stood on the catwalk above them, watching them. "Finish this."

"Yessir," Tommy snorted and continued his glare at the 'whelp' that dared threaten him. Tommy lifted his pistol but R moved too quickly, his rage giving his feet wings. He smashed his fist into him, making the wider man gasp in shocked pain, then snatched his gun from his loosened grip and whacked him across the face with it. Tommy caught himself before he could fall, and glared, the gash above his eye burning. The 'corpse' still held his gun in his hand but wasn't pointing it at him. "What? Too scared to shoot me?"

"No. I just thought I'd make you bleed first," R glared back, then tossed the gun away. "Blood for blood."

"Oh-ho! So you want to a have a rematch, do ya?" Tommy hesitated a moment before he got back onto his feet. "Sounds good to me! I've been meaning to get some reve-" R didn't let him finishing, striking him in the face with his fist. "Fuck!" Tommy squealed in pain, his already injured nose from where Julie already punched him aching severely, blood flowing freely once again. Broken now. "You fucking bastard!" Tommy screamed and charged at him. R wasn't exactly the best at fighting, having had little to no training recently, but the little he remembered served him well enough. He quickly spun away, ducking to avoid the older man's reach. "It'll be so good to finally end you! Like the monster you are! Fighting and killing is just basic instinct to you now, isn't it? Come on, freak! Show everyone your true nature!" Tommy taunted.

R's fists tightened. He felt completely conflicted by this. He wanted to fight him, wanted to make him bleed for what he did to Julie, for what he did to Susan, make Scott pay as well. To his shame, he took pleasure in the idea of making them pay. He also hated it just as much. He hated causing pain, making people bleed, he hated it with just as much passion. He wished so badly that everyone would just stop fighting, stop killing, learn to accept one another... he so desperately wanted to stop all of this... but he knew that just wasn't a realistic sentiment. There would always be people like Tommy and Scott, who had strayed so far that they actually took pleasure in hurting and killing others. Not even zombies did that! Sure, the immediate relief you'd feel when you eat was nice, but it was short-lived and, at least to him, left you feeling empty and remorseful afterwards.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to reflect on things at a time like this?

R felt himself fall backwards with a particularly strong kick to the chest. He gasped for breath but didn't have time to recover, another kick to the ribs made him groan in pain. "That's right! Take it like the undead freak you are!" Tommy sneered. R glared and turned on the floor quickly, tangling his legs with his enemy's until he twisted enough for Tommy to lose his balance and stumble. R got to his feet and kicked him in the same spot he was kicked in.

Repeatedly.

"I'm. Not. The. Monster. Here. Tommy!" R snarled, each word punctuated with a hard kick before he stepped back. He knew he wasn't proving a point by literally kicking a man while he was down, but he couldn't stop himself even if he tried.

"Oh... sure you're... not..." Tommy groaned.

"At least I don't kidnap people and torture them for pleasure! Not even zombies did that! No, I'm not the monster here! You and your friends are! You and Scott!" R snapped. Tommy was still and wheezed for a few minutes. "I hated what I was! I hated having to hurt people, but it was something I _had _to do to survive! It was-" R made the unfortunate mistake in believing the man was out for the count. Luckily, his reflexes had improved quite a bit and he managed to jump back when Tommy tried to upper-cut him. "-An instinct I could not control!" He continued. R ducked another swipe of the man's beefy fist, however, he cringed in pain as a strike he wasn't watching for hit him square in the stomach, making him stumble back, but raising his arms he blocked another swipe.

"Shut up! I don't give a damn for your excuses!" Tommy snapped irritably, already sounding out of breath, though it could very well just be due to being repeatedly kicked in the ribs.

R ducked again and then saw more Purists around them, most looked pissed... but some looked thoughtful... this could be good. He took a breath and continued. "I wanted so badly to help people, to not attack them," he nearly fell backwards when a punch to the side of his head jerked his head to the side, but he retaliated quickly, using Tommy's attention on his face to strike him with his foot, kicking him in the knee. Tommy wobbled slightly but it was all the distraction R needed to bring his own fist down, slamming it into the man's face. Fresh blood gushed down the man's face, getting R's hand messy.

"It wasn't until someone treated me like a living, who showed me compassion and trust, that I changed! I fell in love with her, even when I was still a monster... I fell in love and decided to protect her. Then I was reborn! We can _all _be reborn, don't you see? Every one of us! Not just the former zombies!" R argued, though now he was mostly talking to anyone who would listen.

"Shut up!" Tommy yelled, getting very angry. "You're just saying this to save your sorry ass!"

"Kill him, Tommy!" Derrick, Tommy's brother yelled.

"No! I'm not! I don't care if I die right now! It's the least that I deserve for all the pain and fear I caused!" R yelled back. "I was given a second chance! It's not something someone like me deserves, but I was! All I want now is to redeem myself! Make up for my horrible actions, help rebuild society! I want to help people! Save people! Keep them from harm!" he argued. R jumped away from a kick and stepped to the side quickly, rushing him and beating his fist into his neck. Tommy made a gargled gasp, crumbling to the floor momentarily, again wheezing for breath. R took the opportunity to chance a glance around the room.

More than a few of the Purists now looked thoughtful, some even looked like they could be convinced to turn back to their side. "Everyone deserves a second chance," R said again. "Everyone deserves happiness, even _you_," he frowned. He was still incredibly pissed at him, and in all honesty, still wanted to make him pay, but he was trying to make a point. "I hate you for what you did to Julie. But I'm willing to give _you _another chance," He offered his hand, knowing that Tommy would not accept it but hoping the others would see that he at least attempted it. He knew this was a dirty trick, but it was the only thing he could think of at the moment to make people see he was willing to make peace.

"Fuck you, you lying bastard!" Tommy yelled with a strangled cough, slapping R's hand away as predicted. "I'll... kill you all! Like you said you deserve!" he yelled, rushing back onto his feet and attacking the younger 'man' again. R's eyes widened as the man barreled into him. R tightened his body, anticipating the attack and winced when the wider man tried to knee him in the stomach. R pushed him away and rammed his fist down on his head. Tommy fell to the ground but was not done yet. Flipping back around he punched R in the back of the knee, forcing him down as well. Tommy grabbed him and attempted to punch him in the face, but R punched him first.

R expected to hear chanting for them to fight or kill each other, but no one said anything, just watched with bated breaths. R and Tommy rolled, trading brutal punches and tearing into each other. R felt fine with getting beat on and feeling his blood, he knew he healed faster and wouldn't suffer very many repercussions, no permanent marks, but he was making a mess out of Tommy. R blocked his face, exposing his stomach, but held in his groans of pain as the man viciously kicked him. When Tommy produced a previously hidden knife, R knew he had to work quickly to disable him. Tommy slashed at him, trying to trap him down and impale him, but R twisted and kicked his hand, knocking the knife away, sending it skidding across the floor. R grabbed the wider man by the shoulders and forced him back down, then put his weight into his attack, slamming Tommy's head against the concrete floor.

Tommy's eyes bulged in shock, but R didn't stop. R pinned him down, punching hard, similar to what he had done before and beat Tommy until the older man stopped moving. Tommy's blood splashed on his already grimy face but he didn't stop. When the light in Tommy's eyes faded, R forced himself to stop. Half of him hoped he hadn't kill him, but another part of him really couldn't find it in him to care so much. He knew it would bother him later, but right now all he could see was the image of Tommy hurting Julie.

R gasped for breath, trying to calm down as he stood shakily to his feet, his body shaking as he lifted his head to the people around him. "Why?" He yelled at the other around the room, tears of anger and grief leaving clean trails down his cheeks. "Why do I have to keep hurting people? Tell me!" he demanded, but no one spoke. "I don't want to hurt anyone anymore! Why can't you just let me stop? Why can't you let all of us try to make it up to you?" he begged. "Why can't you just... stop... all of this..." he said brokenly, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

"Because you're a lying piece of filth," Scott answered calmly, his eyes holding no pity. "You were there when my son was killed, weren't you? Julie was part of the team that went with him, the day she 'disappeared'. She had gone off with you, after my son was viciously mauled to death and _eaten _by one of you!" Scott yelled. "You're the cause of all our pain! You killed my pregnant wife and then my son! You destroyed everything! _Everything _I ever loved is gone!"

"I know!" R yelled back tearfully. "I have nightmares every night over people I made suffer! Do you think it's easy for any of us?"

"It doesn't matter. For your crimes you should die! Now! Kill him!" Scott ordered. There was a pause where Kevin's men and Scott's men eyed each other and their leaders.

"Let this end, Scott," R glared at him. "Hasn't there been more than enough bloodshed and suffering? Things need to change! The virus is leaving, don't you see? It's only strongest now in the Boneys! If we work together we can destroy it once and for all and start over!" R argued. He could see some of Scott's men lowering their weapons, looking like they were willing to listen, but R could still see the fury and blood-crazed look in Scott's eyes.

Scott refused to listen, the pain in his heart too great. "I'll never join you! I'll never accept _or_ forgive you! Not after what you've done! Kill him!" He yelled again.

"You... you can have me, just let her go in peace..." R said to the room. "All I care about is her safety..."

Julie had remained silent through all of this, just like the rest of them. She wouldn't stand for it now though, he would _not _give up! Not even for her! "R! No!" Julie gaped, unshed tears blurring her vision. "Don't do this!" Julie pleaded to the men in the room. "Please!"

R watched as Scott's men lifted their weapon at him and prepared for the worst. His eyes met Julie's. "Julie... I'm... I'm sorry I couldn't keep you safe. I love you..." he whispered to her.

"R-! I... I love you too," Julie whispered back, fear and despair gripping her heart.

Was this the end for him?

_TBC..._

* * *

**A/N:** Wow! Cliffhangers galore! Now, it's not often I do it, but there _has _been very rare instances that I'll write a bit of tragedy in my stories... you never really know what I have in mind! XD (Cue evil laugh!) The suspense! The suspense is even killing ME! And I'm the one writing this crap!

Shout-Outs:

**AnthonyC22:** She has her dad to thank for that! The Boneys will be dealt with soon...

**Reader1352:** I loooove tension! Writing it is so much fun!

**bonesbemmettlover:** I take it you liked it? LOL!

**Fuinn13:** Thanks! Yeah I read the book first (multiple times) and _then_ watched the movie (multiple times), so I had quite a bit of useful information to work with!

**Katie T:** How did you imagine him before? Actually, believe it or not I wrote these chapters before I saw that scene in TWD! Kudos in waiting until noon lol... unless you wake up at around that time, like I do? Lol!

**OmatikayaClan:** Hahaha! You thought THAT was a huge cliffhanger? How'd you like this one? Nah, I'd never do that to Julie lol.

**warmbodies1d:** "Almost" crying? Looks like I didn't do a good enough job! Don't worry, I invest myself too lol.

**No One:** Uuuugh, please don't mention sparkles... I can't go into most girly stores anymore because of that lol. Anne Rice. Bram Stoker. That's where it's at! I'm an evil genius then? Thanks! R is kind of like a puppy, have you seen the behind the scenes, when "Julie" knocked over that little plastic thing in the jet, "R", (or Nicholas over-acting it maybe lol), stares at it with such a crestfallen expression lol everyone laughed. Yeah, he's a cute puppy most of the time, except when he's in bed... then, well, I dunno, if I carry on with that line of thought it'd get kinda gross, so I'll just shut up now lol. You know I thought about getting the zombies to help too, but thought it'd be too easy lol.

**coadhpgg:** You know I've been meaning to tell you, whenever I read your username, I read "Copenhagen" lol. Anyway! Did R kick ass enough? I'm glad my nearly fetish-like love of character development bled into my abilities as a writer! I love gradual development! I did it to DEATH in my Chronicles of Narnia story, drove my readers completely nuts lol. Aww shucks, thank you so much!

**TeaLeaves:** Thanks! I'm glad you like my portrayals! I was very worried I'd write them OOC! Cliffhangers are sooo much fun to write lol! That's the point! Makes the readers keep coming for more! XD

**brigid1318:** Like I said to OmatikayaClan, I'd never do that to Julie, or anyone for that matter lol, not my style... though if I really had to write realism, I might write a very very vague mention but not much else. Would it really effect R that much? He's had to kill to survive before, and this time he would have had to kill to keep those he loved safe... but I wrote it so it's up to the reader to decide if he did or not.

**Girl In RandomLand:** It wouldn't make any sense for R to be captured... he wouldn't be captured in the first place, he'd just be shot and killed. That wouldn't be much of a story, would it?

**Rue Bladesinger:** I hear ya! Steam says I have 550 hours on Skyrim (which really isn't that much) but I only have 148 hours on Fallout New Vegas lol.

**leiahlaloa:** Wow! Consider me speechless! I've never received such an in depth review! Thank you very much. I'm honored you think I excelled in my attempt to blend the movie and book, was a little tricky since they're both sort of different. To tell you the truth, this is maybe the second time I attempt such large-scale action. A few years ago, maybe even just one, I wouldn't be able to pull it off! The most I could write is maybe a paragraph or two lol. My original characters I would flesh out more if I gave myself more time, but because of my rigid outline I created, there isn't much room. I chose to focus on R's development and "redemption" and his blossoming romance with Julie. Don't worry, I won't judge ya, I have other friends who love twilight. I have issues with the author mostly, but I can understand!


	22. Chapter 22

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

* * *

BANG!

R flinched, once again fearing it was the end of the road for him.

But as before...

Nothing.

Opening his eyes he looked around to see what he could easily describe as a miracle in progress. Around him, almost half of the Purists there, the half that R had seen look thoughtful during his little speeches, were wrestling the other half to the ground, blocking their weapons and trying to disable them. He didn't have time to feel relief though, the men who still followed Scott were still aiming to do as they were told. R jumped out of the way, just missing a shot to the head and found himself crashing into a wall. Fortunately, he had turned in time and braced himself, crashing into it back first. Even so, it left him a little winded.

A man rushed him. R ducked again, spinning around on the floor and kicking his foot up, connecting it with the man's undercarriage. The man turned red and R used his pained distraction to shoot up to his feet and ram his fist into the back of the man's head, knocking him out. He recognized the man now, it was Derrick. R shook his head and limped his way out of the way, relaxing only slightly when he noticed that most of the men still working to do Scott's bidding were disarmed. R had not been paying attention to the one man that really mattered though.

Scott's hands wrung the bar he held where he stood on the catwalk. His teeth ground and his face twisted in rage. Betrayal! Betrayal by his men! By everyone! No! Not this time! If he couldn't rely on anyone else, he'd rely on himself!

Julie had _not _been just idly sitting by. The knife that R had kicked out of Tommy's hand had slid close enough to her. While everyone was distracted, Julie rocked the chair she was tied to back and fourth until it gave out and she fell with a thud. Her shoulder jarred painfully against the concrete floor but she couldn't worry about that now. Twisting herself in the chair, she managed to snail-crawl her way to the knife. Turning against the floor again, she reached desperately for the knife, her eyes still trained on the mad man trying to aim at R's head. Julie knew if she tried to warn him, Scott would just shoot regardless of where he was trying to aim. Julie nearly cried for joy when she finally managed to get her hands on the knife and quickly worked to cut herself free. "Yes!" she let out a small cheer and slid across the floor over to a pistol on the ground, some feet away from her. Julie ignored her fatigue and pain and forced herself around again, forcing her hands steady as she aimed the gun.

"Time to die, corpse!" Scott sneered. R whirled around, his eyes wide with panic, but once again fate had other plans for him.

"I don't think so, fucker!" Julie growled.

BANG!

Scott's head suddenly jerked violently to the side, blood pouring out of a hole just above his eye. Moments later his body collapsed, lifeless.

The room stilled.

Julie sighed in relief, the major threats to R's life finally being dealt with. She smiled to herself and let her eyes drift shut, finally allowing herself to succumb to her exhaust. "Julie!" R gasped, stumbling over to her, ignoring the pain his body was in to reach her. He slid down next to her and pulled her to him. "Julie? Julie!"

"Mmf..." Julie muttered in her sleep, but didn't wake. R relaxed, letting out a breath of relief. At least she wasn't dead or in a coma.

"We'll take care of these men," one of the 'good' Purists told Kevin. "You and your men should get out of here now," he added.

"You're just going to let us go? After we killed your leader?" Kevin's brow rose.

"Yeah. Some of us never agreed with his ways, but I guess we were just too cowardly to do anything about it," the man shrugged. "Took a badass chick to do it for us," he nodded respectfully toward R, who now held Julie in his arms, despite the subtle trembling in his tired legs.

"What about... the women?" Kevin asked him, his eyes narrowing.

"If they want to, they can go with you," the man shrugged, glaring at those who looked about ready to protest.

"Good," R scoffed, brushing passed him with Julie still unconscious in his arms. "No one should be treated like that. Man or woman."

"Agreed," the man sighed regretfully.

"Come on, let's go," Kevin gestured to them. "We'll wait for the girls out front," he mentioned and led the soldiers out. They had only waited for ten minutes before ten or eleven women rushed out of the warehouse. "Let's go home everyone," Kevin nodded to them, then began walking home.

Fortunately, since they knew their way back home from there, it took them a much shorter time to reach the city. Moving at a steady pace and quickly dispatching threats on their way, though every day they seemed less and less a threat, they managed to get back home just before the sky began to darken again. R still held Julie firmly in his grasp, who was still very out of it. Kevin smiled tiredly at them and placed his hand on R's shoulder. "You can go ahead to the infirmary, I'll report to Rosso," he nodded to them.

"Thanks..." R nodded back and turned, heading straight for the medical tent.

"What... R..? Julie..?" Nora was struck speechless at the sight that met her when her friends walked in. "Excuse me, sir," Nora said quickly to her current patient and rushed over.

"'S'okay with me!" The old man smiled kindly at his nurse.

Nora smiled back gratefully and hurriedly made her way to her friends' side. She knew that was completely out of protocol, not to mention down-right rude, but she was too worried. "What happened!" She asked, helping R find an empty cot for the still out of it Julie.

"You weren't... told?" R frowned in confusion, letting Nora guide him to the seat next to Julie's side.

"No! I- no one was told anything! I saw soldiers coming in, heard a lot of commotion! I heard rumors but- R, was Julie really abducted?!"

"Yes..." R frowned at the grimy floor beneath his sneakers.

"What happened," Nora demanded, going over to inspect her friend's injuries. Julie's clothes had tears, dried blood and she had several cuts and bruises on her face and arms. Nothing that wouldn't heal in a matter of days, but still alarming! Nora hadn't even checked to see how many bruises she could have beneath her clothes! What happened?!

"Purists. They wanted to get to me, so they kidnapped her... I don't think she played along and they... punished her..." R's fists tightened and his eyes hardened. "If I hadn't gotten their on time-"

"But you did. You got there, probably beat them all up, and brought her back home," Nora told him firmly, seeing the look of self-deprecation in his eyes. "You rescued her and taught the people who hurt her a lesson, right?"

"...Yeah..." R muttered. He still looked very upset but at least he no longer had so much shame in his eyes.

"Good. R, look, I know how much you want to stick to Julie's side like velcro, but I need to tend to her. I'm going to have to ask you to give me a bit of time with her. It shouldn't take long, maybe a half-hour. You can come back later but..."

"No, I get it..." R shrugged, giving Julie one last glance before stepping away and drawing the curtains. He wasn't stupid, he knew that if he saw that Julie had been... or if she had evidence that... no, he couldn't think of that, he couldn't even imagine it. He'd go into a rage and destroy everything around him if he even... R grunted in agitation and shoved his hands in his pockets as he went to his apartment. Stepping into his place, he kicked the door shut and slumped against his old couch. He sighed in irritation. He felt completely exhausted and in a lot of pain but he was too wound up to even think about resting now. He held still for a moment, his hands holding his head up as he leaned forward.

R held still for what seemed like ages. Picking his head up, his eyes landed on a happy little snow-globe resting on the window sill. He gazed at it a moment, remember when he had first gotten it. He had snatched it up when he had guided Julie out of the clinic that first day they 'met'. R got up and walked over to it. Picking it up, he turned it in his hand and watched the little plastic 'snow' dance around the couple trapped in the glass. Strange, it was sort of how he felt at the moment. He felt like fate's bitch. Every turn he made seemed dictated by a greater power, like he dictated when it snowed on the couple in the glass. Glaring at the snow-globe, he gripped it tight, wondering how much it would hurt if he squeezed hard enough and shattered it... if that were even possible.

R took the snow-globe then and flung it across the room in rage. He watched it shatter into a million pieces. Oddly enough, he felt comforted by the sight of the liquid and plastic snow escaping the broken globe. He had freed the little plastic couple from his will. He only hoped he could too take the reigns of his own life and shatter his way through. Expelling a sigh of frustration, he ran his hand through his hair in agitation and looked out his window. From his vantage point, he could see several tents in the distance, passed a couple buildings. Deciding he had stayed away long enough, he left the broken shards of glass, figuring he'd take care of it later and left his apartment.

"R?" Martinez greeted her 'regular patient' with a frown of concern. "R, you need to-"

"Julie. How is she?" R interrupted. He knew what he looked like, knew he was covered in sweat, tears, and blood, but right now all he cared about was Julie. She's all he _ever _cared about.

Martinez pursed her lips, not liking his lack of care for his own well-being, but knew not to press him. "Nora called me over a few minutes ago. She's just fine, aside from some cuts and bruises, there's no evidence of..." Martinez paused, seeing him flinch. Just the idea of the possibility disturbed him. Martinez felt her heart break for him. "Nora is just finishing up, would you like to wait here? We'll call you over when you can go see her..."

"Okay," R nodded and leaned on one of the tent's support beams. R watched Martinez disappear behind the curtains around Julie's cot again and waited as patiently as he could.

"She your girlfriend?"

R blinked and looked over to the same old man that Nora had been treating earlier. "What?"

"The girl you brought it. She your special lady?" He asked kindly.

"She... my special everything..." R blushed, feeling like a girl for saying something so cheesy, but knowing it was the truth.

"Ah. That's good to have in times like these," the old man smiled. "Lemme give you some advice, sonny. Cherish it. No matter how hard times get, always work through your troubles... or that little slice of heaven you carve with her could just as easily slip through your fingers, eh?" he smiled warmly once more. R frowned thoughtfully and was just about to respond when Martinez suddenly spoke up beside him, making him jump.

"You can head in if you like," she told him.

"Wha- oh, yeah, thank you," R nodded to the old man, giving him a weak smile, then rushed off to Julie's side.

"Ah, young love..." the old man smiled.

"Tell me about it," Martinez grinned.

"You know, I'm not busy at the moment..." the old man winked at her.

"Shame on you Mr. Henderson!" Martinez laughed.

R found Nora sitting at the edge of Julie's bed, holding her hand and looking over her worriedly. "How is she..?" R asked cautiously, sitting down on the chair next to Julie's cot.

"Didn't Susan tell you?"

"...She did, I... just want to be sure I guess..." R shrugged.

"She's as healthy as can be, all things considered," Nora sighed. "I know you don't want to talk about what happened, but R, you know it's not your fault, right?"

"..." R didn't know how to respond to that. Was it really not his fault? Was he not the one who was so different? Who decided to change everything? He took Julie in, made her care for him too... released him from his prison, his curse... and helped him change the world. Because of his stupid feelings, he-

"...R. I know that look. Whatever it is you're thinking, stop it right now!" Nora warned him sharply.

"I guess I'm going to be blaming myself for a while," he muttered, shrugging again.

"Yeah, probably. Just know that _none of us_, none of us that _matter_ anyway, blame you for _anything... _okay?" She reached over and placed a friendly hand on his shoulder, giving him a knowing look before getting up and leaving him and Julie alone.

"Right..." R sighed restlessly and leaned forward, his hands held together between his knees. If she was so fine, why hadn't she woken up yet? Why hadn't she stirred since she collapsed back at the Pursits' warehouse? R leaned back again, letting his head lull back and stared at the top of the tent, listening idly to the soft, muffled conversations of people walking by or people in the medical tent. He closed his eyes and allowed himself a moment of rest.

Oh how her head hurt! Actually, she hurt everywhere? Oh God! This felt like a bed! Was she-! Snapping her eyes open with a gasp, her eyes darted around, her heart beating wildly. When she realized where she was and remembered how she got there, she relaxed. Looking next to her, she found her knight-in-not-so-shining-armor. "R!" Julie's eyes widened when she saw him sitting by her side.

R jerked awake and nearly fell out of his seat as he turned sharply to look at her. "Julie! You're awake!" He must have dozed off. There was a blanket draped over him. Pushing the blanket off him he stood, but hesitated over her.

"R, I-" Julie gasped in pain when she tried to sit up too quickly, but forced herself through it and reached for him. R went to her quickly, ignoring his own pain and sat by her, pulling her into his arms.

"Julie... Julie... you're awake... you're safe..." R shook slightly as he held her. Julie's own arms tightened around him.

"Yes... I'm safe... safe at last," Julie nuzzled against him. "I knew you'd come for me," she murmured. She felt like the typical damsel in distress at the moment, relying on her prince to save her, but damn it if it didn't feel good to be rescued once in a while! Especially when she really needed it!

"I thought I'd lost you..." R's grip tightened. Now that he knew he'd heard someone at some point say before, but it was truly what he had felt. Julie said, nothing, just shuddered and pressed herself further into his embrace. After a few minutes, his need to know was bordering on insane, so he very gently pulled her away to looking into her eyes. "Julie? Did they... Julie, did they _touch _you?" R demanded softly.

"No, not like that. They didn't," she insisted with a serious look in her eyes. "One might have tried, but I made sure his equipment no longer worked," she smiled very weakly, so little that it seemed to slip away back into her fatigued expression.

"Julie... are you sure?" R felt like a jerk asking this, as if he didn't trust her to tell him the truth, but just the thought of those men doing that to her...

Julie sighed wearily and nodded. "I promise. If it'll make you feel better I can have Martinez look at me again?" She offered.

"...No, I trust you," R relaxed. If Julie was willing to have tests preformed, she had nothing to hide. He knew she didn't anything, the look in her eyes told her she wasn't lying.

"Good. Now what about you? ...You look like shit," Julie managed another small smile.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" R joked weakly. His face was covered in cuts, bruises, and blood... much like it had when they first 'met'. "I'll ask Martinez to-"

"-Way ahead of you, pal," Martinez said from behind him, as if materializing from thin air. "Sorry, I was kind of close by and I may or may not have been listening in a little..." she blushed and smiled sheepishly. "I bring gifts!" she said, holding up cotton-balls and oxygen peroxide. "Sit!" She ordered, gesturing to the chair next to Julie's cot once more. R nodded and did as he was... well, ordered, and slid into the seat again. Martinez knelt by him and worked on cleaning his face silently, not letting every wince and hiss of pain he made get to her as she worked. When she was done with his face, she sat back on her haunches and eyed the way he seemed to lean a certain direction. "Any other injuries?"

"Well..." R trailed off.

"He got into a brutal fight with a man twice -or _three_ times- his weight..." Julie answered for him. R shot her a look, the look of a whipped puppy and Julie had to try very hard not to snort in laughter. Why was she always comparing him to a puppy? Anyway, laughing at the moment would just hurt too much.

"R!" Martinez gasped.

"It's not that bad," R muttered, avoiding his doctor's gaze.

"R, come on, let's go. Let's _go_," Martinez stood and gestured him to follow her to the back 'room' where the examinations were preformed. "It's probably safe to say you two have seen each other already..." she gave them a look. It _wasn't_ the look of a whipped puppy. "But I'd like to follow procedure for this," she told him before he could protest. R sighed inwardly but nodded and stood.

"You're no fun!" Julie called after them.

"Well, at least she still has her sense of humor," Martinez smiled as she drew the curtains.

"Yeah," R smiled back a little, feeling a little better. Pulling his shirt off he watched Martinez cringe and give him a pained expression. Looking down at himself he noticed a large dark purple bruise on his right side, where Tommy had kicked him in the ribs, and another few smaller ones on his chest and stomach. "Bruises don't last a lot of time on me," he reminded her.

Martinez simply nodded and began her exam, checking to see if he had any broken bones, any internal bleeding or any permanent damage. Fortunately, like Julie, he checked out. "Good," she sighed in relief. "R, am I going to have to start charging you rent? I don't want to see you in here for medical reasons again, understood?"

"Yes ma'am..." R smiled softly.

"Good. Now go on," she smiled at him.

R pulled his shirt back on but stopped before he left. "Mart... Susan?" he began, turning to look at her. "If it's alright with you... I'd like to take Julie home now..." he said softly. Martinez studied him for a moment, she understood what he meant. She smiled at him softly and nodded, gesturing for him to run along. R smiled back, a real one this time, then turned and left.

"R? Everything good?" Julie asked as she watched him walk back over.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he shrugged. "Do you... want to head home..?" He asked carefully.

"Take me to your apartment?" She asked quietly, watching the look of relief and happiness flood his eyes again.

"Of course," he smiled and went to her side. He offered his arm, knowing she didn't need it but wanting to support her any way he could. Julie rolled her eyes but accepted his offer, letting him help her out of the bed and leaning into him. R wrapped his arm around her, careful not to touch any of her bruises and walked with her back to his apartment. On their way they found Nora sitting outside, a bottle of water hanging from her fingers as thought it were a bottle of beer.

"Julie," Nora grinned over at her friend and went over, hugging them both. "I'm really glad you're both back and you're both okay," she smiled at them. "Heading to the apartment?" she asked curiously, no trace of teasing in her voice.

"Yeah," Julie answered. "Nora... are you okay with... you know- and the house being so big and..." Julie bit her lip, trailing off.

"Are you kidding? All that real-estate just for me? It's great! I can kick back and study without having _you_ to interrupt me all the time," Nora stuck her tongue out.

"Nora..." Julie sighed.

"I'm fine, Jules. Really! Besides, if I want company, I'll just bother you two," she smirked. "Or go find Marcus," she shrugged. "Oh! That reminds me!"

"Yeah, me too," R suddenly said. He felt a tremendous amount of guilt for not going to see his best friend. How could he?

"Don't worry, I'll tell him," Nora smiled at them. "I'll tell him to drop by tomorrow, okay? In fact, I probably will too... is that okay?" she asked them gently.

"You don't have to ask..." R mentioned.

"I know..." Nora shrugged. "Anyway, I'll go find Marcus, okay?"

"Thanks," R smiled gratefully.

"Take care, you two," Nora hugged them again and then left.

R and Julie continued out their way in silence. When they got to the apartment, they stood in the center of R's room, simply watching each other. "Julie? What can I do for you? I'll do anything you ask," he said quietly. Julie could tell he was hesitating to touch her, probably felt like she was too hurt or too bothered by what happened, but that was the last thing she thought. "Just hold me..." Julie's voice was just above a whisper as she leaned into him, sighing in content when his arms wrapped around her.

They pulled their clothes off gently, trying very hard not to look too deeply at each others' wounds. They put that aside for how and simply lay in bed together, neither attempting anything that night. They held each other closely and felt comfort and satisfaction with just that for the moment. In the morning, they would talk, but for tonight, they simply lay there, content to just be together once again.

_TBC..._

* * *

**A/N:** Thank GOD that's all over! ...Right? Lol. NO NOT THE END! Jeez, jumping to conclusions. Is anyone starting to see a pattern, or is it just me? XD

Shout-Outs:

**Katie T:** Even the Governor had reasons for being an asshole though, really stupid ones but there you go. Every villian needs reasons, otherwise they're just empty. Glad you liked how I wrote Julie!

**leiahlaloa:** So you're saying you have no CC for me? That's good to know :D lol. Thanks, the action is sort of a new things for me lol, despite me having some DBZ experience, I was still never really good at it. No no, I just said I was worried I'd write someone OOC, as in not anywhere near how their personalities are. I understand everyone has their own vision of a character, but that doesn't mean one can write Julie as some weak little cry baby and R as some deus ex machina lol. I'm a pretty strict writer when it comes to that. I used to write characters completely out of their personalities a lot when it was younger and I have since deleted all of that lol.

**BabyYoureMyOxygen:** Nope, not the end!

**coadhpgg:** Aww don't do that! Which cupboard? Bathroom or kitchen? Personally, I prefer the bathroom because I tend to keep towels there LOL...

**Girl In RandomLand:** Lol omg...

**Ashely Marie:** How d'you know? I could kill him off and bring him back to life lol.

**Fuinn13:** Lol like I said, great idea but yeah, had other plans!

**brigid1318:** Some of them were moved anyway lol. My mom went to see the movie with me and agreed, they couldn't be THAT comfortable and nothing happen lol.

**AnthonyC22:** Lol I love how everyone has such a strong opinion on Scott! Means I did a good job writing an original character lol!

**warmbodies1d:** Well, I have to be obsessed over my work, otherwise I'll never get it done! XD

**No One:** Not sure I understood what you wrote lol he's hot but not while he's a puppy? My mind very often wanders into the gutter, I need a leash for it. If I killed R it'd just make for a more interesting story and you know it lol.

**jurassicpark12:** I update daily :P

**Katie T:** How did you review twice? Yeah I meant for all of that LOL. Seriously though, Scott and Tommy were blank, nameless people in the book that I just brought to life. I hated what Isaac Marion did to John so I took that out and concentrated on the movie version lol but it only makes sense that someone would be like that anyway.

**Surely Sherlocked:** I based Scott on him but "the Governor" from The Walking Dead was a big inspiration too!

**Sydney:** Muahahah! My job is complete then! J/K, I'm glad I portrayed the emotions in that chapter well enough! Yes, the womens thing, it's inevitable that something like that would happen.


	23. Chapter 23

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

* * *

The first thing Julie Grigio felt the next morning, was the warmth of a strong body next to hers.

Her eyes fluttered open and she was met with tanned skin. Studying it, she noticed the bruises she had seen just last night were already starting to fade. Working her arm free of being trapped between them, she traced the slightly discolored skin of his chest. "Look what he did to you..." She murmured to herself, feeling him shudder slightly under her fingertips. She looked up but saw that he was still asleep, or at least still had his eyes closed. She smiled, reaching up to run her fingers through his shaggy hair. Even in his sleep, R leaned into her touch.

"Mmh?" R's own eyes slowly opened. "Julie" he smiled sleepily down at her and his arms tightened around her bare shoulders. "Not a dream..?"

"Not a dream," Julie felt herself grin. She drew closer to his warmth and let herself just feel him, feel the love radiating from him. R noticed Julie studying him and took the opportunity to look at her as well. Lifting his hand to her face, he very carefully caressed her cheek, avoiding her bruises and cuts. He knew she had more bruising in her stomach as well, but if he were to look at it now, he'd probably go crazy with anger. No, he needed to think about it first, cool off. "R, you're getting that serious look in your eye again..."

"Huh? What look?" R blinked.

"The look that tells me you're either planning to _ravage_ me or go on a different type of rampage... personally, I prefer the first, but that's me," Julie shrugged.

"So do I," R let a tiny smirk out, amused by the little blush that adorned her cheeks when he did it. His smile faded a bit when her blush just made her bruising stand out more. He went back to caressing her cheek and studying her.

Julie rolled her eyes and pulled away a bit, leaning in to snuggle into him. "You know, I kinda wish I healed as quickly as you do..."

"It... does have it's perks," R muttered, rubbing her arms affectionately. "I'm pretty sure you have to get the virus first though..." he added. "It's not worth it," he shook his head.

"If I ever did get it, you'd just be my _anti-virus_," she smiled up at him.

"Julie..." he looked down at her, cupping her cheek once more. "If you ever... if something ever happened to you... I'd stop living again... I'd become a..." R shook his head again, averting his gaze. He'd lose the will to live and become a Boney. He didn't need to say it, they both knew.

"I know," Julie agreed softly, craning herself a little to reach him, laying a gentle kiss on his lips.

"I told you last night," he began in a whisper. "I thought they... when Kevin told me they kidnapped you..." he trailed off and shuddered.

"Shh," Julie shushed him.

They spent that early morning just like that, holding each other in the quiet early morning. It wasn't until Julie decided a nice hot shower would be nice that they finally got out of bed. Unfortunately, they were both too sore and too tired that morning from their ordeal to _join each other, _so R let her go first and in the mean time, dug through his records. "Haven't listened to Frank in a while," R muttered to himself and put his favorite Frank Sinatra record in. It was an obscure compilation of his songs from various albums. If there was one thing he wished the record players had was the ability to 'shuffle and repeat' like Julie's 'silly' iPod did. Still, you just couldn't beat the sound quality... most of the time, at least that was R's opinion.

R left the record running when it was his turn to shower, but when he got out of it, Julie must have restarted it. As he ruffled his hair with the towel, trying to dry it quicker, he found her just sitting on his bed, her head lulled back so the soft curves of her neck were exposed and her eyes were turned toward the ceiling. "...Julie?" he questioned, tossing the towel in the hamper carelessly and walking over. He sat down and waited for her to look at him.

"Hm?" She answered simply.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Sure," she shrugged. R frowned slightly. He knew she was still just as bothered by what happened as he was. He scooted over to her, sitting next to her, and smiled when she leaned over, resting her head on his lap. R tangled his fingers his her hair and caressed her gently, watching her from his spot worriedly. R was concerned when Julie didn't say much for a long time, didn't move much, just stared out into the empty room in silence. He could tell she was thinking, probably even reliving what she went through, trapped in her own mind. It bothered him to think that she may have almost a bad experiences as he had when he was a zombie, and she hadn't even mauled anyone to death! No one should be trapped in their own ugly memories like that. R had to find a way to break her out of her mental prison... but how? Well, there was_ one _thing he thought might work. R was about to do something then, that he never thought he'd ever do.

He was going to _sing _to her.

"Hey Julie?" R began softly.

"Hm?" Julie answered wordlessly once more, still just staring off.

R took a deep breath. _"In the hustle of the day, we're all inclined to miss little things that mean so much... A word, a smile, and a kiss..." _Julie turned her head to look at him and he was happy to see her smiling, in fact, she looked like she was trying very hard not to laugh. It didn't matter to him, he knew he sounded horrible, off-key and stumbled over the lyrics, but he sang anyway. He accepted any positive emotions from her gladly, even if it was at his own expense.

R leaned over and kissed Julie's forehead, took another breath, and continued. _"You wont regret it, don't forget it... It's all so easy, try a little tenderness..."_ he finished singing, caressing Julie's cheek, and was happy to see Julie's smile reaching her eyes. He had improvised an old Frank Sinatra song he heard, made the words fit as much as they could.

"That was very nice," she said softly. "Just don't quit your day job," she managed a tiny laugh. It warmed R's heart to hear it. "R," she sat up again and this time it was she who cradled his face in her hands, searching his eyes. "I... I never want to hear you give in like you were willing to back there, never again... okay?" she told him seriously. So that's what she had been thinking of?

"Julie..."

"No. Giving up is never an option. Got that? Never," she said firmly.

R remained silent for a little bit, and Julie could see him thinking about it. She didn't like that he actually had to consider her words, but as long as he was willing to listen, she'd be okay with it. "Okay, Julie, okay, I won't give in so easily," R relented, placing his hands over her's and taking them. He kissed her knuckles before leaning in to kiss her lips. They found themselves in each other's arms again, R resting his cheek against her head as he cocooned her in his embrace. Besides getting up to eat cubes of Carbtein, since neither of them felt up to cooking or going out for food, they mostly remained in bed that morning. "We're missing a lot of work..." R mentioned off-handedly. He couldn't bring himself to care that much that day though.

"I think we deserve a day off..." Julie shook her head. "It's nice to just stay like this..." she shut her eyes and curled herself further against him.

"Julie..?" R's voice was barely above a whisper again.

"Yeah?"

"...Will you... stay with me?" He asked quietly. "I don't think I could handle waking up without you anymore..." he muttered, blushing at the admittance.

Julie's eyes widened a fraction. "...As in, live with you?"

"Yeah..." R blushed again and Julie could almost feel it. She looked up at him and grinned.

"R, do you know what it is your asking me? I mean... is that what you're asking me?" Her heart beat a mile a second.

"It... it is and yeah, I do know," he nodded seriously.

Julie thought about this. This conversation never came up with Perry, and she had known him for years... and yet, they never seemed to reach that level. Maybe it never did because Perry had lost hope, had lost most of the will to live already, didn't know what he was living for. It had been a vicious cycle that drove a wedge between them. How could they possibly think about starting a future together if for him a future didn't really exist? He had been living day by day, going with the motions...

R was different though, so different in so many ways. He was alive and full of hope and wanted so much more... it had been so easy to fall in love with him. How could she not? He was selfless, compassionate, loving, and willing to do whatever it took to see his dreams came true. So why not? Why not stay with him? The longer she spent time with him, the more at home she felt, the more she felt this was where she truly belonged. So Julie decided then that yes, she would start her life anew, with him. "Yes, I will," she grinned.

R said nothing but Julie could practically feel the joy coming off him, his face morphing into one of elation. His jubilation was cut short though, for a nagging thought entered his mind. "Do you think... your dad... do you think he'll mind..?" R trailed off.

"Us being... together?" Julie smiled.

"Yeah, but not just that, I mean... you know... _together..._" he raised a brow at her and blushed.

"Oh. Well, he'll probably put a bullet in your head," Julie shrugged and smirked at his alarmed expression. "It's a _joke_..."

"No, no, I honestly think he might..." R smiled then but only half-heartedly.

After a moment, Julie thought of something else. "Dad should have been back by now..." Julie muttered worriedly.

"How many volunteers did he take with him?"

"I can't remember... maybe a dozen, maybe more?" She shrugged, chewing on her bottom lip worriedly.

"Your dad's the toughest guy I've ever met," R admitted. "He's also pretty smart, I'm sure he could handle whatever situation he found himself in," he told her.

"I guess you're right..." Julie let out a shaky breath.

It wasn't two minutes later that they heard a soft knock on the door. "It's open!" said R.

The door opened and in walked Nora, followed by close behind by M. "Uh, we're not interrupting anything... are we?" Nora raised a brow. R and Julie were lying in bed together, their arms around each other.

"We're wearing clothes so at the moment, no, you're not," Julie smiled, sitting up with R.

"Julie, are you- you and R- when Nora told me..." M's face contorted with different emotions.

"We're both fine," R told him, smiling reassuringly at his friend.

M surprised them both by going over and hugging them. "I would have come sooner but Nora said you two were probably busy this morning," he smirked.

"Actually..." R shook his head, blushing. "We were just talking..."

Julie saw the look in Nora's face, the look that told her she was actually trying hard _not _to make a lewd comment... which was just plain strange. "Nothing to say, Nora?"

"No..." Nora actually looked pained now. There was a bit of silence for a moment and Julie could see how much Nora was trying to fight off her nature.

"Nora, I know you're worried about us but you shouldn't be. We're both fine, we made it back safe, and nothing happened- _right _R?"

"...Right..." R nodded dutifully.

"Right. When you don't joke around and act all mellow and crap like that it just... it reminds me of what _might _have happened, and what already did. So don't stop being yourself... okay?" Julie insisted.

"Okay," Nora smiled, relaxing. "So... what kind of 'talking' are we talking about..? The kind that requires deep _deep _connection... or sex?" she burst out laughing, apparently having to keep it all in had bottled it up. This time she wasn't the only one laughing, even R chuckled softly.

"The real kind," Julie laughed. "And thanks."

"Oh no problem, Jules!" Nora beamed. "I'm never doing _that _again..."

"Yeah, that looked painful," R smiled.

"So, Nora... what were _you _two doing this morning?" Julie shot back.

Nora shook her head, smiling in amusement. "We were at the Orchard, actually. I was trying to convince Marcus to wait until noon to come storming in. He's actually a pretty good drinking buddy! 'Bet he'd be even more fun with some real alcohol though," she smirked. M grinned at R and gave him two thumbs up. R shook his head and sighed. Really, like Nora, M was a bit too much sometimes. "Anyway, do you two plan to just stay in bed all day...? Wait, don't answer that, I know the answer already," she snickered, seeing their blushes was evidence enough. "We should go do something, something fun! Celebrate life and victory over evil!" She said dramatically.

"What do you propose we do?" Julie questioned, curious what her older friend had in mind.

"What about... what about a drive? Like, fill a car up with gas and cruise around the country-side a bit!"

"I don't think Rosso would like us taking gas like that..." Julie shook her head.

"We can ask him! Come on, it'll be fun!"

"...Can I drive?" R smiled shyly.

"_Can _you drive?" Nora shot back curiously.

"No-" chipped in Julie.

"-Yes," Said R. Julie and R glanced at each other with amusement. "Hey, believe it or not I do remember what you told me... and I have a feeling more will come back to me once I practice a bit more..."

"Not sure I want to die in a fiery crash..." Julie shrugged, smiling teasingly.

"Please?" R sent her his most adorable look, which he had mastered in an alarmingly short time. Personally, he didn't know what he looked like, felt like a duffus doing it, but it seemed to work on her.

"..._R_..." Julie protested. Damn him and that puppy-like look! He had two very good weapons on him, that sad puppy look and this new one he had been recently trying on her, this sort of _disarming _smile, it was slow and easy and made her want to jump him every time he did it! She wasn't sure what was worse, looking incredibly adorable or sexy as hell! "Alright..." she sighed, smiling when he leaned in and kissed her cheek. Oh she'd get him back...

M smirked at R. "Wow, and I thought _she_ had _you _wrapped around her finger," he chuckled, once again making them both blush. He shared an amused and knowing look with Nora.

When the four brought their request to Rosso, they expected the colonel to turn them down outright. They weren't exactly that surprised when he gave their permission though either. Rosso hugged Julie, told her how happy he was that she was back home and safe. He then surprised them by hugging R as well, thanking him for helping to go out there and rescue her, despite his initial belief that it wouldn't be a good idea for him to join the search and rescue party. He told them they didn't have a lot of fuel to spare, but they did have enough for a short trip... especially if they went out and gathered some more if they could.

And so the friends piled into Julie's red convertible. With R at the wheel it took them a bit to actually get going, but fortunately, he _did _remember a lot of what Julie told him before. Choosing one foot and putting the car into gear, they set off. As luck would have it, it was a pleasantly sunny afternoon, despite it still being a bit chilly. They drove through the city and out into the coast-line. It was fortunate as well that there wasn't any traffic or laws to worry about – hopefully not for long though! - so they were able to bob and weave through static cars and enjoy the day. They reached an empty lot by a beach side, or rather, a part of the city that was flooded but still looked like a beach. They were even surprised to find a few ducks and seagulls picking at scraps around them. It was nice in a morbid-dead-city-scavengers kind of way.

Nora had the foresight to bring some food with her, so the group sat down by the water and ate a lunch of bread and cheese with some water. It wasn't the best food ever, but it was easy to come by and very satisfying. After lunch, they took the opportunity to try to do some scavenging. As they never left the city without being armed, they at least had some protection. All the same, R stuck by Julie's side as though they were magnetic. "I'm not going to just up and disappear you know..." Julie told R in half-amusement half-annoyance. Julie knew that R was protective, always had been with her, but now it looked like he was worried someone would just jump out of the shadows and kidnap her again.

R shrugged. "I... I know... I'm just-" he blushed.

"Worried? Don't be, shrugger, I'm a tough cookie... I'll protect you," she winked at him playfully.

"Gee, thanks, I feel better now," R laughed. Julie eyed him appreciatively. Today he chose to wear dark jeans, his old black sneakers, a dark shirt, and his dark leather jacket... a lot of 'dark' today but it made him look amazing. It was funny how much it seemed to contrast his kind-hearted personality, but she also knew that when he wanted or needed to, he could kick as much ass as the rest of them. Just because he tended to be a bit shy sometimes and didn't like the idea of hurting anyone, didn't mean he didn't have a badass side to him either. She had seen him in action before and it was something to behold.

The four were still very cautious about the _potential _threat of zombie attacks. There were still a lot that had not been reached, a lot that the Boneys still had influence over. Then there was the Boneys to worry about. Even though they seemed to be getting weaker by the day, they could still do some serious damage in a pack. The went into a grocery store with bated breaths.

"Ah, I knew this wouldn't be so easy!" Nora hissed, seeing a couple Boneys chowing on what looked like the remains of scavengers.

"Let's lock and load..." Julie whispered. Unfortunately, the Boneys had heard them step in closer. They screeched and charged at them. "Shit!" Julie's eyes widened. These Boneys had just ate so they seemed a bit more spry than the ones they had been getting used to. Luckily, two Boneys were no match for synchronized shooting from the group. One of them had it's head blown off in mid air, the other hadn't even gotten over to them yet.

"...Well, that was anti-climatic..." Nora blinked.

"We should hurry. The noise would have alerted any others around here," R advised.

Pickings were unfortunately slim, but they were able to grab a few essential supplies. Some canned goods that had been kicked under trash, some dog food -because they'd take anything they could get, really-, some basic tools one might find in grocery stores, such as kitchen supplies. It wasn't the best stuff, but it was better than nothing. They even managed to siphon some gas from a few cars abandoned around the store. Gear in hand, they returned to the car. It was early evening when they returned home and delivered the goods. It was a little disheartening to see people get so excited over dog food, but then, maybe with all the changes, it wouldn't be so long until they could all start having plenty of _real _food. Julie was still looking forward to fatty cheese burgers and greasy fries.

"I'm going to go see how the others are doing," M mentioned, waving good bye to them and patting R on the arm.

"I'll go with you! I should probably get back to work anyway," Nora smiled and hugged her friends before she left with him.

"I guess it's just you and me again," Julie smiled, taking R's hand and guiding him back to the apartment.

That night, after a quick meal of canned mixed veggies they had found, R and Julie sat on the couch, once again listening to music in candle-light. It wasn't exactly because they were being romantic though, the power-generator had run out of gas and the 'landlord' had to get more fuel for it for the tenants. R decided to just keep the lights off anyway. Since almost a week ago that they finally gave in to their need for each other, there hadn't been a tense moment between them... except for that night. Maybe it was because they still hadn't talked about what happened, maybe they thought they were still too injured or the ordeal was still too fresh on their minds, but neither of them had tried to do anything since they got back.

R in particular had been more hesitant to touch Julie than she would have liked. It was as though he were afraid of hurting her or something silly like that. His need to protect her and keep her safe often overrode his more _basic_ needs. It was something Julie found both endearing and annoying. So when R again hesitated on doing more than kissing, Julie took matters into her own hands and straddled his lap. "R, if you don't lighten up right now I'm going to rip off your clothes and not take any pity on you..." Julie half-threatened and watched the conflicted emotions race in R's face in amusement. It looked as though he wasn't sure whether to feel chastised or excited.

"I... um... I'm... sorry?" He blinked in confusion and shrugged a little, going back to his default response.

"Good boy. Now, pick me up and take me to bed," Julie smirked, wrapping her arms around his neck.

R's eyes widened a fraction but his expression quickly turned playful, his hold tightening around her. "Yes_ ma'am_!" He grinned.

Picking her up, R carried Julie into his room and gently placed her down on the bed as he crawled over her. Julie pulled him closer to her, sighing in content when he relaxed his body over her's. She smiled and drew her fingers through his hair, watching his eyes close blissfully at them ministration.

That night R asked her where she had been hurt, and then took special care to make sure he thoroughly kiss every bump and bruise on her body, making sure she only had good memories of them from then on. Naturally, Julie returned the favor. It was plain to say that they were both feeling _very _good about their injuries that night.

_TBC..._

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**A/N:** The end of this chapter was so mild that I didn't even think it deserved any warning of any kind lol. That line at the beginning about R's favorite Frank Sinatra record was (mostly) word for word from the book! I do not own it! Isaac Marion does! Don't sue, all you'll get is pocket lint lol. The song he was singing was "Frank Sinatra - Try A Little Tenderness" I thought it would fit.

Usually I have one or two chapters in reserve, but I didn't this time! Oh noes! This was kind of a short chapter, but mostly because I got rid of a lot of stuff I thought was really boring. I dunno about you but I was falling asleep while writing this chapter lol! Well, if you guys know anything about me, you'll know that I don't stick with too many fluffy chapters for long lol.

Shout-Outs:

**bonesbemmettlover:** Yes! A lot could have happened lol you're lucky I have such a strict outline!

**OmatikayaClan:** I was totally inspired by the (damn) Governor! Scott is like a blend between the Governor and John from the Warm Bodies book :D

**Reader1352:** You're amused easily, aren't you? HAHAHA I'm just kidding! I did exactly the same thing!

**leiahlaloa:** Adam? No no, I appreciate any input, including CC. I used to get it a lot when I was just starting out on FFNet, and it helped me a lot as a writer! I love connecting with my readers! I especially love it when they get involved and ask questions and such like that. I've only been a beta for a couple years but I get it. I try not to let my personality poke through too much, try to capture what the original author meant the characters to be like, part of me being a fan I suppose. I agree, too much repetitive romance is boring... and hard it write! Unless there's like a lot of sex, and even that gets old after a while... I mean, how many times are you gunna say "in out in out" LOL! Oh, God, please ignore me, it's 2AM and I'm not thinking straight! Hah! I didn't think that in the threater because I had already read the book (a couple times) before I went to see it! ...Though I might have rolled my eyes when I read it in the book lol. FREAKING LONG RESPONSE FTW!

**Lioness002:** By now I bet there would be a cot with R's name on it lol! Actually, when I write it, he's always taken to the same spot lol. I'm glad you caught up too! Means I can say HELLO to you! :D

**warmbodies1d:** Well, believe it or not I am planning on writing my own book lol...

**coadhpgg:** Ah but kitchen cupboards are usually full of... wait, you don't mean under the sink, do you? Because I dunno about you, but that's where I keep all my chemicals lol. Unless you mean the "breakfast" cupboard? That might be nice... a little tight fit but who knows lol. Julie is pretty neat, eh? John will be back soon!

**brigid1318:** Yeah! I liked swapping things up like that! Honestly though I hadn't thought of it that way until you pointed it out! Oh I have some plans for when John comes back... should be interesting.

**LoneTread:** I'm so happy you liked it! Oh damnit, I knew there was something wrong with that but I couldn't figure out what it was! I'll go correct it asap!

**MaddiegreeN:** Shame on you! Lol j/k! XD

**No One:** He's a hot... puppy? BAH! WTF! It's 2AM, I'm not making sense atm! I shouldn't be writing! Not good! XD I have the tendency to write raunchy stuff at this hour, so I better keep away from this story LOL! Ehem, anyway. Yes, Martinez kinda mothers him lol I'd love to develop her character a bit more and maybe even have them bond but, damnit, I can't! My damn outline is too rigid! Like R's... lmao okay, gotta stop now. They're both just compassionate lovers now then? Not all loose ends have been tied up! Keep in mind, again, that this story takes place during the epilogue of the movie... some ehem _brotherhood_ needs happening first, understand? That's the only hint I'll give out! John will be back soon!

**Girl In RandomLand:** Tsk tsk! You should only blame yourself! XD

**HordeFighter:** Thank you! Unfortunately, like I've been saying to my other readers, I wrote this story to be sort of like an extended epilogue to the movie... It's (mostly) everything R describes at the end, but detailed. The outline is too strict for me to be able to add a whole lot to it, you know? Haha, don't worry, I know how to write lemons. I don't often do PWPs so no worries, I was just teasing. Thanks again!


	24. Chapter 24

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies, The New Hunger or anything related.

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John Grigio glared at the road ahead of him, wondering how everything could have gone so wrong so fast. He had lost half of his men in that mission to California. His mind, not for the first time, wandered back to the events of that week. He had reached the small town where the survivors had been hiding out at. The day had been very nice, very sunny, it had given him and his men the allusion that things would go smoothly... but that was not to be. When they met with the survivors, they should have noticed that something was off from the start. Their leader, an old man named Geoffrey, was twitchy and kept eying the goods they brought along to sustain them. Normally that wouldn't be so odd, considering they had quite a bit of supplies and most people didn't, but John should have noticed the desperation at least.

So Geoffrey invited them into the little convenience store they had been living in and explained things to him. Some of the 'corpses' had been acting strange, as if they lost their interest in them, but the Boneys had not. It was plain to see that these people, with their gaunt bodies and ashen faces, weren't the hunting and scavenging types, so some of them probably never saw a Boney up close before. The leader went on to tell them that the Boneys had been aggressively determined to get at them, destroyed the stores of food and water they had and even tried to break into the store they lived in. It had been like that for several days until it stopped. The leader told him that they needed to leave this place, needed refuge, and had heard of stadium city. John told them they needed to think about it. In the meantime, Geoffrey offered them to stay, rest, and eat with them, 'commune' in fellowship. John wasn't sure about sticking around, but decided if they offered them hospitality, even with the meager supplies they had, they could at least be courteous and accept their generosity.

They stayed and met with the rest of the people in that group. It was only two days later when Geoffrey attempted to ask them if they could join them again. John had gotten to know them fairly well the past days and they had seemed likeable people. He hadn't seen the problem with letting in a few more refugees, though as always he was cautious about it. He asked them what they could offer them. When the leader spoke of giving them their _daughters_, and no one objected, it was a clear indication that something important within them had been lost. John tried to politely decline and ask if they had any skills, but most of the people there were either too young and inexperienced or too old and frail to do much. At least, that's how the looked like from inside the store. They hadn't been guarding their supplies as well as they should.

John had told them that they would think about it and had tried to leave, but Geoffrey tried to stop them, offering more 'hospitality'. He tried to 'appeal' to their humanity again. John could see that the old man was trying to stall them, had been trying to keep them occupied all this time... something was wrong. John pushed him aside and went to see what his gut had been telling him all that time to see but had been ignored. When they reached their caravan, they noticed that the guards that had been stationed there were nowhere to be seen. They approached their vehicles, calling for their missing soldiers, but no one was around. Checking the supplies it was then John understood what was going on. Those 'refugees' were scavengers alright, the worst kind. Yelling for his men to arm themselves and take cover had probably saved the lives of most of them.

Out from the alleyways and street corners, shots were fired. Weapons stolen from them were being used to try to kill and rob them. These people were not simple survivors, they were highwaymen, bandits. They spent a few hours playing bullet tag until John managed to get a team around them, flank them by going through one of the old buildings. They disabled the ones attacking them on the ground but there had still been some snipers hidden in some of the taller buildings. They tried to approach the building with the snipers, but a car had been rigged with explosives and detonated as soon as they got near it. Fortunately, John and a few others hadn't been as close and it nearly sent them flying backwards with only a few scratches and one with a concussion when he hit his head on impact from the throw.

They regrouped and tried a new tactic. John sent a sniper up to one building while he got into his humvee and drove it and his remaining men into the building. They staggered out of the vehicle just in time for more enemy fire to rain down on them. Fortunately, it was dark enough in the building and John's men were experienced enough that they got that situation under control in short order. After disabling them too, they crept to the top and got rid of the sniper. From the vantage point at the top of the building, they could see what looked like an enclosure some ways inside the city. Piled cars, tires, and pieces of ruined building. They could also see their missing soldiers tied up in the center, dogs around them. John was no stranger to difficult situations, but he had already lost a lot of men and didn't like the idea of losing any more. So they waited for the cover of night.

Geoffrey knew that they were going to try to break in and had rigged the surrounding area of more explosives and traps. Men and dogs scoured the city of them, trying to sniff them out. By some sort of stroke of luck, John had encountered a handful of zombies. The undead had, of course, tried to make a meal out of them, but John had ordered his men to capture the corpses instead of kill them. The zombies fought against their restraints, but it didn't look like they were as savagely hungry as most, probably due to a fresh supply of meat nearby. And so John began to try to talk to them, try to convince them that they didn't have to be the way they were. At first, the zombies didn't seem to understand them, or perhaps they simply didn't care.

When John began to tell them the story of Julie and R, one of them seemed a bit more willing to listen. They quieted down and listened to the living tell them that one of theirs, a zombie, had found compassion for one of the living, had protected her instead of trying to eat her, and they had eventually fallen in love with each other. John finished his tale and looked the corpse that seemed more willing in the eyes, told him they would show them this brand new world, this life where zombies could experience rebirth, could find a life again and be at peace... if they helped them.

A living asking a zombie for help had never occurred before. It was a foreign concept that had the captured undead stunned. John was surprised when the more lucid of them spoke to him, told him in slow, broken words, that they would help. John told him that he was placing his trust on them. He ordered his men to lower their weapons, ignoring their protests, and liberated the corpse he had been speaking to. They held their ground for a moment, eying each other warily, but it soon broke when John offered him his hand. The zombie blinked at his hand for a moment, as if he hadn't known what to do with it, but finally something clicked and he took his hand. They shook hands and John attempted a cautious smile, surprised when the corpse attempted one too, though it was more of a grimace than anything else.

And so, with the shaky alliance John made with the small group of undead, he and his men made their way to the enemy camp, aided by the zombies in distracting them, they snuck in. The dogs in the camp barked incessantly, but fortunately the guards were distracted by the zombies. They knocked the dogs out, forced to kill some of them to silence them, and broke their captured soldiers out. The men were there and warned John that this was a trap, that the females of their group had been taken somewhere else. Someone must have been watching, waiting, for as soon as John's beaten corporal stopped explaining the situation, they were fired upon again. John and his men took cover in a building nearby, but it was badly damaged so they couldn't hide and fire back so well.

The injured man explained that they took the women of the group to their main building in the center. It was an old federal building that Geoffrey used as a home and office. The fire fight lasted until early the next day, when the enemy began to get tired, get sloppy. None of them seemed to have military training, so John took advantage of this. He led his men to safety and took the enemy by surprise. John found the zombies that had tried to help were mostly in good shape, despite bullet holes and missing flesh. With their aid once more, they entered the building where John's remaining soldiers were being held. It was a close fight, the building crawling with armed guards. John met Geoffrey in the man's office and they traded harsh words before the old man tried to sneak an attack on him. Both men wrestled each other to the ground before John was forced to get his beretta and end the man's life.

Searching the building, they found the women in the basement, wired with explosives. John wasn't a demolition expert and they had lost theirs in the fire-fight. It was a tense couple hours, trying to figure out what to do. One of them told her commanding officer that they didn't mind dying, that it was the way of life in that world, but John refused to accept that. It came as a shock when who John had dubbed the leader of the zombies, told them they would take care of it. John had no idea what the zombie had meant and hadn't reacted fast enough when the corpses all chose a target. The undead attacked, but not the women, they yanked the explosives off them quickly, shoving them aside quickly and hugging the devices close. The bombs detonated, blowing the zombies to bits but saving the living around them.

After the shock of what happened faded and the ringing in the air went away, they stood again and collected what they could. They met with the remaining zombies and told them the offer to go with them still stood, that, unlike the living they helped defeat, _they _had earned a place among them, had earned a new life. The zombies nodded in agreement and helped them gather their missing supplies. Since a lot of men had fallen, there had been plenty of room to take the already only semi-dead with them. The drive home was silent for the most part, but at least John attempted to speak to the zombies in the car with them. At first all the undead seemed to be able to do was grunt and blinked in confusion, but the more John spoke, the more they seemed to try to respond. It wasn't until they started to try to speak that John realized that he had stumbled into the cure, the method of bringing the dead back to life that Julie had tried to tell him about so many times. Ordering his men to try to interact with the men was the next step. And so, the trip back home was not quite so boring and silent as they would have thought it to be, and it kept the remaining soldiers occupied, kept them from thinking too much about the friends and families they had lost in this trip.

It was more than a welcomed sight to see the tall buildings and familiar but still ugly wall surrounding stadium city, several days later. As they reached the city, they found more semi-dead milling around and decided to take them as well. Some children were among them, one in particular looked more alive than the rest, and vaguely familiar, though John couldn't place from where as he had never seen this child before. To say the guards protecting the walls were surprised to see John escorting zombies out of the vehicles was an understatement. It wasn't so surprising, even as sad as it was, that there was quite a few missing living. After sending the already healing undead to the temporary housing for former zombies, John made special trips to the homes of the men he had lost and spoke with the families. It was disheartening to see how easily parents, spouses and siblings accepted the loss of their family members, but it really _was _the world they lived in. Soon, John hoped, it would change and they wouldn't accept death as easily.

Heading into the command central, by the way his men greeted him and averted their gazes, John could tell something was wrong. Meeting his second in command in his office, he accepted the hug the older man gave him. "Rosso, it's good to see you," John sighed, then sat down in his seat when Rosso offered and watched the man wring his hands.

"It's... it's a relief that you're back home safe, John. You have no idea..." Rosso smiled grimly. "You were gone for quite a while, we were beginning to worry..."

John shook his head, not missing the troubled look on his old friend's face and frowned in concern. "Rossy, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Some things happened while you were away... things you won't be happy to hear about."

John leaned forward, rubbing his tired face, and fixed his second in command with a hard stare. "Such as?" Rosso told John how everything seemed just fine at first, a couple days had gone by with barely a splinter on anyone, nothing out of the ordinary and even signs that the Boneys had begun to stop attacking so much. He told him that it was only a few days later than everything went wrong. Tommy Brown and his brother had escaped, knocked out Susan Martinez, and then kidnapped Julie. Rosso saw the look of rage in his leader's face and quickly went on with his story. He told John that Kevin had discovered clues and R went with him to rescue them, despite Rosso's belief that they needed to wait for more concrete proof that the 'clues' were genuine.

Rosso told John that from what he heard from Kevin, they found the enemy base, snuck passed the guards, defeated the enemy, rescued Julie _and _saved a bunch of enslaved women. Things could have gone so wrong, but the small group had managed to do the impossible. It had been fortunate that Kevin was such a sharp tactician and that R and Julie were such tough kids. He told him that Kevin said R defeated the men torturing Julie, and Julie put a bullet in Scott's head. John was silent for a moment, adsorbing what the older man had told him. It seemed a lot had happened here as much as it had happened where John had been. He thanked Rosso and went on to explain his own situation.

Both men were silent after their talk, giving a moment to their fallen comrades. "John, you look terrible," Rosso finally said.

"Ah, I'm fine," John shook his head.

"Come on, old friend, let's go see Susan," Rosso pat his leader's arm and walked with him to the medical tent. As they walked passed the former zombie's tent, Rosso noticed a few children. "So who are they?" Rosso gestured to the group of sem-dead some ways behind John. "Those kids...?"

"They're kids we found wandering the streets. I think they were once corpses..." John answered dully. "It's a damn shame. They don't remember anything, no parents, no identities, they're blank slates..."

"That's terrible," Rosso frowned.

"Well, they'll find a home here," John nodded, mostly to himself. He stopped by them and knelt down by them. "Hey kids, how do you feel?" he asked softly.

"Cold, sir..." a little girl muttered.

"Should hurts..." one of the boys whimpered and it was then John noticed the fresh red blood streaming down the boy's arm.

"Come with me then, kids, we'll get you fixed up," John stood and offered his hands to them. The children took them and the four continued on their way to the medical tent. Upon entering, they were met with a surprised and happy staff. Nora walked over to them, grinning.

"Mr. G-! Err, General Grigio! It's good to see you're back safe," Nora said as she watched the men walk into the tent. "How may I- ...Addy..?" Nora's eyes widened and she froze in place.

"You know these children?" Rosso questioned.

"The... the boy... he's my little brother..." Nora whispered in wonder.

The boy looked at her curiously. "Y-You know me?"

"You don't know who I am? ...A-Addy?" Nora gaped.

"I'm sorry, I don't know... I... I don't remember anything..." the boy said in a trembling voice. "I'm sorry..." he apologized again.

"No, no don't apologize!" Nora's eyes weld with tears. "You're my little brother, your name is Addis... do you remember?"

"Addis..." The boy frowned in confusion, but looked Nora in the eye and tried to remember her. A pained look flashed before his eyes, he could remember feeling terrified and in a lot of pain, then he couldn't remember anything else. The boy reached for the woman, touching her hair, then studied her. Nora took Addis' hand and the boy looked down at their linked hands. He saw an injury on the woman's hand and suddenly something in him clicked. He remembered this woman... but she looked younger in his mind, he remembered an awful looking boney woman bite on the girl's hand, took part of her finger off, and he could remember taking an ax and severing the tip of her finger stopping the virus... then he was taken by a zombie! Bitten! He remembered! He remembered dying! He remembered her! "Nora!" Addis gasped, tears welling in his own eyes. They hugged each other, crying, crying in grief, hope, and joy all at once. They had finally found each other again, after so long...

"Addy! I missed you so much! I looked for you for so long... were you here all this time?" Nora sniffled.

"I... I don't know... I was..." Addis frowned. "I don't remember! That man over there found me," Addis pointed to where John was being treated by Martinez.

"-General John Grigio, the leader of this city," Nora supplied for him.

"General? ...Cool!" Addis smiled weakly. It was plain to see the boy was just beginning to recover, so he was still slow, weak, and tired, but even so, the boy seemed to remember what 'cool' was and that he thought a top military General would be labled as such.

"Don't worry Addy, I'll take good care of you now. We have plenty to eat here, so I'll get you patched up and full up with tasty food in no time!" Nora wiped her tears and grinned at her little brother.

"Can I... can I have fries?" Addis asked cautiously, frowning in confusion. He seemed to remember having a meal with Nora before, their last meal maybe? It had been odd tasting but delicious fries-like food. Nora laughed and hugged her brother, so happy to have him with her. She would find a way to get her little brother some fries if it killed her! He deserved all the fatty and unhealthy food he wanted after everything that happened to him! He deserved to be spoiled rotten! And Nora would see to it that her little brother would never again want for anything! Never again need to find smaller clothes because his body was fading away from lack of food! Thing would be different this time around.

_TBC..._

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**A/N:** Woo! Lots of development in this chapter! Sorry that there's no R and Julie in this one, I wanted to explain to everyone what happened with John and I also wanted to put in the little surprise! Addis! Addis is Nora's little brother FYI (for those of you that read The New Hunger, the prequel to Warm Bodies!). Despite this chapter not having R and Julie in it, I hope you liked it and I hope it wasn't too boring!

I took advantage of my guest sleeping in to work on this chapter! I hope you appreciate my dedication to you guys lol. I will probably update the next one late, either late on Monday or early Tuesday.

Shout-Outs:

**liliaeth:** Haha I have some plans for that lol. I might have worked on exploring R's past and such if Isaac Marion wasn't (hopefully) already doing that with his sequel. Like I said before, this story takes place in the epilogue of the movie. It's like an extended epilogue, so I can't really go out of those bounds, you know?

**Gembomz:** Yep! He'd lose the will to live! She's the reason (she and Perry actually) that he's alive, after all!

**OmatikayaClan:** As normal as can be anyway...

**coadhpgg:** Of course! How COULD he sound all amazing when he's never used his vocal cords like that, at least, not since he died lol. It's gunna be interesting when John finds out lol... not sure what I'll do exactly but I'll try to make it amusing!

**brigid1318:** Suprise update! XD Did ya like what I wrote about John? I hope that wasn't too boring!

**leiahlaloa:** I'm considerate like that lol. Not sure about SO much, things are starting to wrap up to tell you the truth. Remember I'm working with the epilogue of the movie, so not so much can really happen, you know?

**Girl In RandomLand:** They're certainly talking about it! R asked her to in his own way. Nora didn't ruin it this time lol they already knew Nora and Marcus would come by in the "morning" (or afternoon really).

**GarnetAles:** Mostly, yep!


	25. Chapter 25

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies, The New Hunger or anything related.

**A/N: Warning!** Heavy suggestive content! It is recommended you listen to sexy music when appropriate! Which really, is right now!

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R and Julie had spent most of the day at work and had just gotten back, a few hours before normal quitting hours. Fortunately they were both allowed to go home earlier than usual as their bosses were both worried about their 'state of minds'. Of course, R and Julie didn't say anything to argue, deciding to take advantage of the generosity and spend time together.

Julie had met R at his job, though Kevin had accompanied her this time, despite her protests. The three spent a few minutes at the Orchard before Kevin had to get back to the wall. After Kevin went back, R and Julie decided to head back to the apartment. Stepping inside, R set his tool belt down on the small table next to the door. R took as step back when Julie tried to hug him, making her look at him very oddly. "I'm sorry, it's just... I smell..." R said, ducking his head slightly, feeling self-conscious.

"Are you kidding? You smell great," Julie laughed.

"What?" R blinked in confusion.

"Well first of all, you smell very _alive_," she winked at him. "And also... you've been out all day doing heavy-lifting and constructing and using your hands..." Julie trailed off, biting her bottom lip. "It's not exactly anything that would turn a girl away..." she grinned at him. "But hey, if ya wanna take a shower, go ahead," she smirked.

"Um, okay?" R raised a brow. He blinked when she started going into the bathroom. "Wha-"

"Coming?" Julie cut him off, glancing over her shoulder and winking. Despite how tired R was from the hard day at work, his eyes lit up and he ran after her. Julie laughed when he caught her and turned in his arms, cupping his cheeks and pulling him down for kiss. They removed their clothes, grabbed several packets of protection, and stumbled into the shower, groping the wall for the faucet as they went. The spray of cold water made them jump and shiver.

"Ah! C-Cold!" R flinched.

"Here, let me help you..." Julie grinned playfully and dragged his hand down his chest, down his stomach, and _further, _reaching down his body.

R jumped and blushed deeply. "What are you-oooo... oh shi- Julie!" R's eyes popped open in shock.

Julie laughed and continued to diligently do what she was doing, watching him struggle to keep himself steady on his feet. "Just trying to warm you _up_," she winked at him. "Do you like it?" She asked with fake innocence.

"Nnng..." He groaned, his head dropping forward. She was pleasantly surprised when a little growl escaped him when she stopped. Looks like cute little puppy had a big bad wolf side to him too! Julie squeaked when R abruptly picked her up and pressed her against the wall.

"Warm enough yet?" she smirked, sliding her hands over his firm shoulders.

"Not yet," he smiled just as teasingly and buried his face in the crook of her neck, making Julie press harder against him in pleasure with the things he did to her with his mouth. "Now it's _my_ turn..." he whispered against her ear, and then braced her harder against the wall. This time, it was him that reached down between them. R covered her mouth with his, kissing her lovingly and at the same time muffling her cries of approval. The water had just begun to start turning warm, but their bodies had already heated up by then. They barely felt the water hitting them as they lost themselves in each other.

A little over an hour later, they stepped out of the bathroom, dressed and even more tired than before, though at the same time, _very_ sated... at least for the moment. Julie plopped down on the couch, wincing slightly at a pulled muscle in her leg and smirked at the pleasant memory of just how she got that. R went over to his record player and dug through it again, pulling out one that looked good and setting it in. After the music began to play, he went over to the couch and sat down next to Julie, who made herself comfortable. The gentle sound of pleasant music drifted into the room, surrounding the couple relaxing on an old couch. R smiled down at the beautiful woman resting her head over his lap. He thread his fingers through her hair, watching her play with his other hand.

Julie watched the fluffy clouds drift over the blue skies through one of the apartment's living-room windows. "Hey, R..?" she suddenly said, still watching the outside world from her very comfy spot on the couch.

"Yeah?"

There was a pause, then Julie flicked her eyes over to him. "Do you... think my dad will be back soon?" she asked in a soft voice.

R thought for a moment. He knew how tough Julie's dad was, knew he could handle pretty much anything... or maybe he thought that because of how much he respected the man and his own biased experiences he had with him, but he felt the older man was tough enough to take anything that was thrown at him. Then again, California was pretty far from where they were, and the 'living virus' as he had come to call it, might not have 'spread' down there... which meant they could have rode into a 'zombie-state' ...but then, John Grigio was an experienced tactician and soldier. There really was no way of telling if anything would or could go wrong. No way to tell why exactly he was taking so long either.

"R?" Julie muttered worriedly.

R took a breath and shook his head. "...I really don't know..." Julie nodded, accepting his answer.

Meanwhile, John sighed for the hundredth time that afternoon when Susan checked and then rechecked to see if he was in tip-top shape. "Really, Susan... I'm fine, I feel fine, we're all fine, it's fine!" He threw up his hands in exasperation. She had kept him there for over an hour, fussing over him when there were people who needed her help more than he did! The woman was nothing if not incredibly thorough. It didn't help that he was the leader of the city either.

"You'll _be_ fine when I _say_ you're fine," Martinez rose a challenging brow.

John's own brows furrowed. "...Well? How am I then?" He shot back.

Martinez checked her chart once again and then glanced over at him. "Why are you still here? ...You're fine," she smirked, watching him roll his eyes in a very similar manner as his daughter. "Go on, I need to get back to patients who _really_ need my help," she teased and sent him on his way. "And don't pick at that!" She called with her back turned to John, just as John went to rub the bandage over the nasty scratch he had received during his mission. He shook his head in amused disbelief but put his hand down and walked on.

John walked around the city, eager to see his daughter again, at least to say hello before he took a much deserved nap, but she was not at work. He went back home but didn't find her there either. Narrowing his eyes, he stepped out and turned toward the direction of R's apartment. The boy should still be at work... right? But perhaps not, not after what he and his daughter went through. John wasn't a fool, he knew that after something like that, they would seek comfort with each other. Walking out toward R's apartment, he just hoped the two hadn't taken _too much _'comfort' with each other, though a part of him told him that it was most likely precisely what they did... though he refused to listen to that part.

At the same time, R's hands were full, Julie had wormed her way onto his lap and they were gently kissing, far too tired to do anything more at the moment, though not for the lack of trying. They jumped slightly when there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" R said, figuring it was just Nora or M.

"R? Have you seen Jul-" John froze in his tracks when he went to enter the apartment, staring at the 'kids' sitting on the couch, or more accurately, R sitting on the couch and Julie sitting on _him. _They both had the typical deer-caught-in-headlights look. There was a standstill for a moment, neither party moving a muscle. Julie could see her father's jaw working, his eyes narrowing, and his trigger finger twitching. So she moved before he could. Julie jumped out of R's lap and ran over to her father. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed his cheek and hugged him tight. Momentarily startled by Julie's abrupt reaction, John lost his building rage and wrapped his arms around his daughter to catch her.

"I missed you!" Julie whispered.

"...I missed you too," John relaxed and held his little girl closer. "You're both still in trouble though," he warned her, then shot R a menacing look. R ducked his head slightly and smiled sheepishly.

"It's good to have you back, John. Things would have gone a lot smoother around here with you to look out for us..." R said quietly.

"Hmph," John grunted, his eyes still dangerously narrow. "R, I..." John let his daughter go and walked over to the young man. "What you did to rescue my little girl..." he shook his head, letting his surprise and anger at having caught them all over each other go. "I can't tell you how much I'm grateful to you for putting yourself in danger like you did to get to her, to teach those bastards that hurt her a lesson," he said seriously, reaching forward and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'll _always _do anything it takes to keep her safe, to keep her happy..."

"I know, and I respect that," John nodded. He stood back and turned to leave. "I'll tell you were I was later, I need to sleep a few hours first. I expect to see you both at dinner, alright?" he mentioned. "Oh and R? Don't think I forgot about you either, we have a lot to talk about..." he warned him, then left.

When R and Julie were once again alone, they glanced at each other worried. "So... so do you think he'll kill me?" R asked quietly.

"Why would he?" Julie's brow rose.

"I've been... what's the term I've heard people use? I've been shack... shacking up? With his daughter?" R blinked in confusion. "I can't remember how that makes any sense..."

Julie laughed, brushing tears of mirth out of the corners of her eyes. "Yeah, I don't think dad'll be too happy that you've thoroughly 'shacked' his daughter up..." Julie smirked. She knew she wasn't using the term right, but R didn't seem to notice, it just made him turn a darker shade of red. "R? R stop pacing..." Julie rolled her eyes and grabbed him, pulling him down to kiss her. After a few seconds, R relaxed and kissed her back. When she was sure he wouldn't suddenly have a conniption from stress, she let him go. "Feel better?"

"Slightly," he sighed.

"Don't worry, he likes you now, besides, I'll stop him from reaching for his gun, okay?" She smiled and rubbed his jaw soothingly.

"Okay..." R nodded.

Meanwhile, M had heard rumors that John had returned with some children. One of them was Nora's little brother. Out of curiosity he went to check on them and was rooted to the spot when he saw them together. A flash of memory shot through him then, memories of years before, when he had just been turned, when he had met a young girl and her baby brother... he had followed them, wanted to connect with them, but had trouble doing so and felt terribly confused. His... his... who was with him? Someone, a woman, a pre-Boney, who spoke to him without words. She, or it, told him what to eat, who and what the girl and the child were. M had taken the boy and...

"I killed her brother," M gawked in shock. "Me! It was me! That girl! Oh God, what have I done?" M felt sudden and terrible pain in his chest as his heart beat harder and faster than he had ever felt. The last thing he saw was the image of himself tearing into the shoulder of a little boy before everything went black.

When M next woke, he was in the hospital tent, Martinez standing over him and looking through a chart. "You had a heart-attack. Fortunately it's wasn't a very strong one but you gave us quite the scare!" Martinez explained. Nora was standing beside the doctor, checking the IV connected to M's arm.

"Doctor... can I speak to Nora alone for a moment?" M asked quietly. Martinez blinked in confusion but nodded and left them, drawing the curtains.

"Hey there, Marcus. How do you feel?" Nora asked on concern, leaning over to press her hand gently against his forehead... to check his temperature, of course.

"Nora, I..." M's face contorted in a mixed array of emotions. "I... heard that you found your brother..." he began softly.

"Yeah! Isn't it great! He had been around here all this time!"

"...Where is he now?"

"He's resting over there," Nora drew back the curtains a bit and pointed a few rows down. A small boy of around seven years old, with deathly gaunt features and loose clothes lay curled up under a blanket, completely tuckered out. "He... he was a zombie... I haven't seen him in years..."

"Nora..." M grimaced. "Nora do you... do you remember how you... lost your brother?" he asked, his heart racing. Would she remember him? Would she hate him? Would she never want to see him again? The thought of not seeing this sweet, pretty young woman again, never hearing her beautiful laugh or seeing her smile or relentlessly teasing R and Julie with her again... it just broke his already injured heart.

Nora frowned at the question, at the sudden and deep interest M seemed to have with Addis. "Why?"

"Please, what do you remember?"

"I... not much. To tell you the truth, I had put that awful memory off my mind for so long... why?" She asked again. She was alarmed by the tears in M's reddened eyes and how broken he looked.

"Please.. please forgive me... please..." M broke down, hiding his face in his hands. "I did something horrible to you Nora... so horrible... I'm so sorry... please..." he begged brokenly. "I couldn't... I had no control... oh God..." Nora's eyes were wide in shock and worry. Her eyes jerked over to the heart-monitor attached to M, seeing it suddenly spike. "Please..." M sobbed.

"Marcus? M, you really need to calm down. Okay? Just calm down!" Nora said, trying to sound as soothing and gentle as she could, sitting by him and rubbing his back. The action only seemed to make it worse though. What had he done? What could he have done... to her... that would make him react like- but then... there was something... a memory, something she had repressed for so long. She could see it now. Seven years ago, when all of this was just starting to get worse, when the world had finally had enough and given up. She and Addis were hiding out in a house... they had been followed for a long while by a tall young man... R? And... an older man... M? Oh! Nora's eyes widened and she froze. M must have noticed for he picked up his head and looked over at her cautiously, tears still streaming down his cheeks.

Nora remembered. She remembered getting attacked by Boneys. She remembered the tall young man hanging back but the older one grabbing her brother and... M bit her brother. He turned him into a zombie. But... she frowned. M hadn't done anything else, she remembered the odd sort of hunger in the older man's eyes, but he had just bitten her brother and held him close, he hadn't done anything else. Still, Nora felt a rush of anger and sadness within her. She had a mind to scream at M, to hit him and never speak to him again... but... she wasn't stupid, she knew, like he said, he hadn't had the will to stop himself completely. He had been led by those Boneys, they had taught him what to do... besides, he hadn't killed her brother, not _really_, they were both alive now, alive because he held back from eating the boy.

"Marcus..." Nora looked over at the forlorn man, seeing the deep grief and regret in him. Had this been the cause of his heart-attack? Had so many negative memories and emotions taken such a hold over him that nearly cost him his life? A life he had worked so hard already to get back? "I'm probably going to be angry at you for a while," she began, seeing him flinch. "But I forgive you..." she smiled weakly at him.

"Y-You... you... no, I don't deserve it," M shook his head.

"None of us deserve it," Nora countered. "But I still do," she said firmly. "I want you to rest and in the morning, I want you to meet him, okay?"

"Of course," M nodded eagerly.

"Good. Rest now, Marcus, I'll see you tomorrow," Nora said, pushing him gently until he lay back down on the bed. Nora reached over and brushed the tears from his eyes and smiled again. He had a lot of heart in him, despite how much he covered it up with brashness and lewd jokes, much like _she _did. How could she stay angry at him? No, everyone deserved a second chance. "Get some rest," Nora surprised M by leaning in and kissing his forehead, then slipped out quietly.

That evening, R and Julie arrived at John's house. Nora had been there too for a moment, only to say hello to them before she made an excuse to go catch up with Mrs. Grau's, claiming she missed the old gal, and left. The old woman collected and pampered orphans almost as though they were little kittens in need of shelter. She had taken Nora in when John first brought her in and had even looked over Perry for a while when his dad died. While it wasn't a surprise that Nora would want to visit Mrs. Grau, the three knew the real reason she left was because of the sudden tension in the room. And it wasn't the good kind.

As they sat down for dinner quietly, R squirmed a little in his seat, wondering how he'd bring up the rather large status change in his and Julie's relationship. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, John brought it up first... in his usual abrupt and to the point manner, "So tell me," he began casually. "Have you two had sex?" he asked, taking a sip of his water.

R dropped his fork in shock and Julie blanched. "_Dad_!" Julie gaped, staring incredulously at her father.

"Answer the question," John narrowed his eyes. Oh, he knew the answer, could see it plainly in their eyes and he had assumed they would anyway, especially with dad out of the way. He just wanted to see what they had to say for themselves. What sort of excuses or diversions they'd-

"...Yes sir," R responded, trying very hard not to avoid John's hard gaze.

John blinked in surprise. So the young man chose to tell the truth? Well played. "Is that so..." John moved his jaw to tighten threateningly, his brows furrowing so low it almost looked like his eyes were closed.

"Dad," Julie began as gently as she could. At least her tone caught his attention. He probably wouldn't have listened to her if she went she-devil on him. "We're both consenting _adults_," she reminded him. "We made the decision to be together because we love each other, alright?"

John studied them for a moment, his head aching from keeping from exploding on them, but if his daughter was being civil about this, he could too. He forced himself to calm down. "What are your intentions, boy?" John flicked his gaze back to R.

"I- what do you mean?" R frowned in confusion.

"Do you plan on marrying her?" John leaned forward, his stare hardening.

R blinked and glanced at Julie, who looked at him curiously. Their gaze met and she smiled reassuringly at him. "Eventually, Sir... I don't think right now is the best time to think about that..." he answered.

"I agree. So you also agree that she should still live here, right?" John gave him a challenging look.

"That's up to _me_, dad," Julie shot at him. "I decide what I will do with my life, not you. I love you, but I will do what my heart tells me, and my heart tells me to be with him," she told him.

John's habit was to blow up and yell at his daughter for being so willful, but she was right. She stopped being a little girl a long time ago. He thought for a long while, scrutinizing them, part of him enjoying seeing them fidget in their seats. "Alright," he shrugged, watching them begin to try to argue and then freeze when they realized a second later that he had given them their blessing.

"...Just like that?" Julie asked cautiously.

"He earned my respect long ago and I know the lengths he'd go to do right by me, and you... so yes, I accept," John nodded, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. "I don't like that you've had sex and are planning to move in before marriage-" Julie rolled her eyes at her dad's traditional views. "-But I understand why you did and I understand that in these times, such traditions would seem silly..." he gave his daughter a knowing look. "I only hope you've used protections."

"We have," Julie told him. She, of course, would _never _tell him the entire day they spent out on an unsanctioned scavenger hunt, just to get more condoms, but hey! At least they were dedicated to being careful!

"Good..." John said uneasily. The idea of his precious little girl giving herself to a man like that still bothered him, but she wasn't little anymore and clearly not his anymore either. They ate their meal in silence again, though this time it was a _little _more relaxed. After the meal it was clear that the two wanted to escape, wanted to rush off to R's apartment and again John took the twisted amusement in watching them squirm in their seats. He sighed and waved his hand in dismissal. The 'kids' looked shocked for a moment before shooting out of their seats. Julie stopped to give her father a kiss on the cheek before she and R rushed off.

John shook his head and sighed wearily. He let a tiny smile filter into his expression. So, he was finally going to get a son-in-law in the future, eh? He'd be a fool to think he could get a better one too, R was a lucky score for a son-in-law. Dedicated to everything he did, honest, selfless, cared for his daughter more than his own life, _and _a pretty decent soldier. Yeah, he could accept this. It also meant that John would now be able to make R's life a little harder, oh he'd have fun with this. Payback was a heartless bitch. John smirked.

_TBC..._

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**A/N:** I updated in time! I guess I lied lol! Sexy timez with R and Julie at the start! Hope ya'll are happy lol. Tension with big daddy! Uh oh! John looks like he's going to be a typical annoying dad and father-in-law lol. I hope no one minds the creative license I'm using on him! Personally, I like my version of him better lol. Poor M, that must have been hard on him! Truth time! I actually cried when I wrote that bit, just a little, a few little tears... I'm a sap, so sue me.

**For those of you that don't know, the prequel to Warm Bodies, The New Hunger, can be bought using "Zola Books" (go to the website, it'll explain), it's an exclusive ebook only thing... but you might be able to download it to your computer and find a program online to convert it it PDF.**

Shout-Outs:

**No One: **I really wish you'd log in or get an account so I can answer you properly lol. Zola Books, that's where you should be able to find (...Italian version..? Wtf?) The New Hunger. R does do a good 180 eh? This chapter almost gave ME whiplash lol. I made him extra sexy in this chapter lol! I was in one of those moods, had to try hard not to go overboard! I missed a comma? WHERE?

**coadhpgg:** I'm happy you do! He's so much more fun to work with lol.

**4MeJasper:** Lol you missed a lot!

**AnthonyC22:** Jeez, needy much? LOL! J/K!

**Rue Bladesinger: **I hope this chapter didn't disappoint you? I don't think R would have remembered much, I don't remember (pun?) him being too much in that unfortunate scene.

**Reader1352:** Not a twist at all, like I said, in the prequel to Warm Bodies (The New Hunger) it is explained that Nora had a little brother and went through hell with him... I brought him back! :D

**LoneTread: **When I realized what I wrote and you pointed it out I laughed so hard no sound came out. I went back and changed it.

**dontbecreepy:** Go to Zola Books website and look it up, it's an ebook exclusive.

**Ashely Marie: **Let me know if it ever gets boring lol.

**Sydney:** It's unfortunate. I can't remember R being a big part of that last scene with Nora, Addis, and M... so I don't think he'd remember much, besides, unless it's a really big thing, zombies don't tend to remember much of anything. It just so happens that all of this being brought together triggered memories.

**brigid1318: **I AM good to ya'll :D thank ya! I hope Isaac Marion brings back Addis too! There's no reason not to! I think the movie made allusions to both R's "kids" from the book, and Nora's brother with that black boy. That's my theory anyway. I'm hesitant to give R any memories because I know so little about him... that might change when the sequel comes out.

**Fuinn13: **Are you serious?I read it in under 3 hours the day I bought it lol.


	26. Chapter 26

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

**A/N: **Warning! Moderate Suggestive Content!

* * *

"N..No... no... don't..."

"R?" Julie blinked awake and frowned when she saw how tense R was in his sleep. His face was contorted in fear and pain and he was sweating lightly.

"N-No!"

"R!" Julie whispered, kissing his chest lightly. "R, wake up, you're having a nightmare," she said softly. When he didn't respond, she moved a little further up and cradled his face. "Wake up, R," she said again and leaned in, kissing him tenderly. She kissed him again and again, feather-light touches, until his face relaxed and he slowly opened his eyes. "You okay?" she asked gently.

"I... they had you..." he voice was hoarse with emotions.

"You rescued me," she reminded him.

R said nothing and simply pulled her against him, his eyes shut tight as he held her close. "If we had been just a day late..." he trailed off.

"R," Julie sighed. "Would you stop? You really need to get a grip, buddy. Life's a bitch, life will always throw curve-balls at you... but if you manage to beat it at it's own game, you shouldn't take it lightly," she told him. "You _weren't _a day late, you got to me in time and even saved a bunch of others too."

"I know... but I can't stop thinking about-" Julie didn't let him finish. She took him and kissed him. She kissed him like the world was ending again and they had only a moment alone until the world exploded. When they pulled away he looked confused and slightly aroused. "That was... are you going to kiss me every time you want to shut me up?" he asked with a blush.

"Yep," Julie nodded and kissed him again. R sighed in the kiss and let her have her way. "I love you, R," she whispered against his lips, letting her hands trailed down his body.

"M'love y'too..." R muttered, his mind already shutting down. He rolled them over and then neither of them thought of the nightmare or their worries again, for at least another hour. When they lay sated and relaxed, they let their thoughts wander, watching the early morning light just beginning to banish the darkness of the night. Content to be together, they drifted off to sleep once more.

Elsewhere, M stared at the tent ceiling, his mind lost in the past. He hadn't been able to sleep so well last night, not that it's been very easy to learn how to sleep anyway. His mind kept taking him to that moment, that instance that he lost control, that the virus took a foothold on his body. He remembered the boy and Nora now. He remembered waking up in a diner, high up in a very tall building, and being led out by Boney, though she looked more like a gaunt, filthy woman at the time. He had an attachment to the girl, Nora, though he hadn't known why. Maybe he had met her before his death? Whatever it was he had found her scent familiar and followed it. At first the Boney left him alone, went out hunting maybe, but M kept on walking.

He had first found them hiding out in a rotten old motel. The girl had spotted him watching them and tried to communicate with him. Communication made him feel good and he tried to talk back, but he wasn't able to. After a while the girl and her brother left, asking him not to follow. M tried to do as he was asked but the Boney led him on. After a few miles of walking, nearing the city, it was there he met R. He looked about as confused and lost as ever, though perhaps maybe more so at the time since he didn't look like he had been dead for very long, like him. They walked into the city and searched around for more, the Boney had been trying to build a hive.

M had a vague image of a water fountain and some furry animals, dogs maybe? He couldn't remember every detail. What he did remember was not so long after they found the airport, they wandered into the city again and M found the girl and boy again. There was a fight. The Boney wanted them to eat the living. Some of the dead resisted a bit at first, M included, and R just hung back, his will had always been just a little stronger than most. The Boney was about to target the boy but M had taken him first. The Boney told him to eat the boy, so to appease it, he had bitten him... but refused to eat. The girl screamed in pain and loss and managed to escape... that was the last he had seen from her.

"Marcus?" M blinked back to reality and looked over to where Martinez stood. "How are you feeling today?" She asked him, checking his vitals.

"Better..." M managed to answer, though his heart wasn't into speaking at the moment. Martinez could tell that her patient wasn't in the mood for conversation, so she kept things professional and did her examinations. When she was done, she gave him a friendly pat on the arm and re-drew his curtains. M turned on his side as best he could, and watched his breath come out in puffs from the cold weather. Part of him told him to pull his blanket back over him, but he couldn't find a reason to care very much. His mind wandered again but this time, he was interrupted by a pair of legs in his vision. He turned and looked up and saw Nora with her little brother. "Nora..." he greeted hoarsely.

Nora had her brother sit down and went over to draw the blanket over M once more. "Marcus, good morning... did you sleep well?" she asked. M could hear that her heart wasn't completely in the friendly greeting either and winced.

"Would it make you feel better if I told you I could barely sleep at all?" He asked quietly.

"...No," Nora sighed. "No, I don't like that you couldn't sleep either..."

"Either?" M's eyes widened, his expression crumbling.

"It's alright. It was mostly because I was up getting reacquainted with Addy. I'm sorry you couldn't sleep. I'm sure it wasn't a pleasant night for you. Look, I don't take any pleasure in anyone's misfortune, and I don't like that you've been suffering either. Not after everything you've been through. You've been through enough, just about as much as any of us here. You and the other former dead. Just because you were on the other side doesn't mean you didn't suffer either, right?" Nora explained.

"Maybe, but I still deserve it..." M muttered, avoiding her gaze. "I was a monster..."

"Like I said, we _all _deserve it what's coming to us. That doesn't mean we don't deserve a second chance though," she smiled at him, her eyes softening. "Now, come on, try to sit up, okay? I want you to formally meet my little brother," Nora instructed, going over to help him sit up. "Addis, this is Marcus... you remember I told you about him, right?" Nora said softly.

"I... I remember..." Addis frowned. "I mean... I r-remember you... telling me... about him..." he said, his voice still slightly broken up from so long without using it. M could tell the boy was very hesitant to get near him, could see the fear in his eyes, and it just tore M apart to see it. When M went to try to get out of bed, tried to get a little closer to him, Addis flinched and almost fell out of the seat trying to get away from him. M swallowed the emotions in his throat and tried not to look like an overgrown baby and cry at the harsh reaction to him.

"It's okay, Addy," Nora said soothingly. "He's not a zombie anymore, he's alive and..." Nora met M's gaze, her eyes softening a little, "-he's a good friend," she smiled.

"A... A friend?" Addis frowned in confusion. "He... attacked us... he bit me..." the boy clutched his sister's shirt, standing behind her and looking warily over to where M knelt by them.

"I... I can't find the words to express to either of you of how horrible I feel for what I did..." M said, his voice shaky and full of tears. "I wish I could go back in time and kill that Boney..."

"Boney?" Addis frowned in confusion.

"Yes. There are things out there worse than zombies... or there _were_, they're all dying out these days... but anyway, at the time, they had a powerful hold over us. They taught us how to kill, taught us how to behave... otherwise, with a little incentive, I think we might have stumbled over the cure ourselves," he gaze flicked back and Nora and he attempted a smile.

"You mean... you were forced... to b-bite me?" Addis titled his head to the side in confusion.

"In a way, yes..." M nodded. "But... I also had wanted to at that moment too... I can't blame everything on the Boneys. Something in my told me to bite you, to eat you..."

"But you didn't... eat me. You... I remember you... you c-carried me, you took... me to that big... building..." Addis said, his voice quiet as he tried to remember. For some reason, it was very difficult to remember things, remember who he was, remember the people he knew, remember where he was all this time... how long had it been?

"The airport?" M supplied, interrupting the boy's musing.

"Y-Yeah!" Addis nodded. "You didn't eat me... you protec...ted me..." Addis' lip tilted up slightly. "You're not so... s-scary..." he said in a softer tone.

"I'm sorry for what I did, Addis. I wish I could have protected both of you from that Boney... I wish I could have healed back then and taken care of you..." M muttered.

"Things happen for a reason. That's what I think anyway," Nora said quietly. "You were meant to turn into a zombie... because if you hadn't you wouldn't have been able to watch over R, right? You wouldn't have been able to help him and Julie escape... you wouldn't have been able to lead the others over here, found a cure with us..."

"Maybe..." M relented. He was surprised when Addis stepped from behind Nora and smiled at him.

"You did what... you had to do... I forgive you..." Addis said.

M felt tears weld in his eyes again. "I'll make it up to you..." he smiled. "To both of you," he glanced up at Nora, who smiled back.

Meanwhile, R's alarm from an old windup clock he had in one of his boxes went off, waking him, telling him that he had only an hour before he needed to go to work again. He reached over and turned it off just as Julie rolled over, 'trapping' him against the bed. He smiled down at her and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer. "Julie?" he said softly.

"Hmf?" Julie murmured.

"I hate to say this, but we have to get up..." R told her, rubbing her arms affectionately.

"Don't wanna..." Julie protested, and hugged herself against him.

"Me neither," R grinned, running his fingers through her hair. "Come on..." R said and slipped his hand over her legs slowly, gently.

Julie opened her eyes and gave him a look, grinning at him. "That's not going to make me-eee!" Julie squealed in surprise when R suddenly lifted her up and off the bed. "R!" Julie gasped, wrapping her arms around him and glaring at him half-heartedly as he laughed. "Not funny..." Julie all but pouted.

"I'm sorry," R chuckled and kissed her. Julie had a mind to push him away in retaliation, but she could never resist him, so she didn't bother trying. R carefully set her back down and grabbed her clothes, tossing Julie her own.

"What's with the rush? It's still early... we have enough time to spend it a bit in bed and then get a quick breakfast before we go?"

"Most days-" R fastened pulled his pants up and fastened them, "-I'd agree with you, but-" he pulled his shirt over his head, "-I have a feeling your dad won't-" he nearly fell over trying to put his shoes on, "-make it easy on us..." he all but collapsed on the floor from how quickly he pulled all of his clothes on. He glanced up and found Julie still sitting on the bed, not a scrap of clothes on and smiling down at him in amusement. "Julie..." he sighed.

"Like what you see?" She grinned, purposely tempting him.

"Very much..." R groaned and crawled back up and over to her. Julie ran her hands through his hair as he nuzzled her, kissing her exposed flesh.

"Mm, R, you're not making it easy for me... to do as you suggest..." Julie moaned softly, feeling his mouth on her flesh and his arms tightening around her where he knelt in front of her. R wanted so badly to pull his clothes off again and take advantage of this perfect moment... but he couldn't, especially when a loud knock on the door proved his theory correct.

"Get dressed, quickly," R whispered against her ear, his hand sneaking down to her curves as he said this.

"R..!" Julie protested. "You're being a tease!" She growled. "That's my job," she laughed, but quickly went to throw her clothes on. R made his way slowly to the door, giving Julie more time to get dressed. Once she finished putting her shoes on, he opened the door.

As predicted, John Grigio stood there, his arms crossed and a serious look on his face, though that wasn't so strange for him. What _was _strange was the odd sort of twinkle in his eyes. As though he were plotting something. R suddenly felt like he was about to get his head blown off once again. "R... good morning..." John said gruffly. "My daughter awake yet?" He rose a brow.

"I'm right here, daddy," Julie stepped beside the young man and waved at him.

"Good. Now, go get properly ready for the day and meet me at the house for breakfast in ten," he ordered.

"Properly?" R blinked.

"You think I believe you've been up and dressed for a while? You haven't even combed your hair," John scoffed. "Now go on before I change my mind and lock Julie up in her room..." he smirked, seeing the fire in his daughter's eyes. He didn't give her enough time to yell at him though, he turned and left.

"Ugh! Who does he think he is!" Julie snarled. R watched her yank her clothes off angrily and wasn't sure whether to be afraid of her wrath, or completely turned on. He settled for somewhere in between and smiled sheepishly at her when she gave him a look. "You gunna stand there or join me in the shower?" she gave him a challenging look before disappearing into the bathroom once more. She was going to pay him back now...

"Do I have a choice?" R asked teasingly, pulling his shirt off again and stepping out of his pants.

"Nope!" Was Julie's disembodied voice from the bathroom. R smiled and joined her. Julie grinned, feeling his arms around her again, but didn't let him do anything. As much as it frustrated her as well, she enjoyed seeing the exasperation in his eyes and how difficult it was to be 'good'. "Ah ah," Julie smirked, batting his hands away from her when he tried to sneak in a touch. He gave her a lost-puppy look but she was determined not to let it phase her this time! "No, down boy!" She teased. Unfortunately, as much as they wanted to, ten minutes didn't give them much time for anything if it also meant getting clean and doing their _other _usual bathroom routine. So, they helped each other wash up, trying _very _hard not to be 'bad' and then finished getting ready.

When they got to the house, John was talking softly to a small boy at the table sitting next to Nora. He saw them walk in and looked up. "I'm glad you two could join us..." John said just as roughly as usual, watching them take a seat.

"Good morning!" Julie tried to sound as cheerful as she could, though she was still annoyed at her father and a little put off that she couldn't enjoy her morning with R. They sat down and Julie smiled more freely at her friend and the small boy at the table. "So who's this?" she asked curiously.

"Julie, this is my little brother... remember I told you about him?" Nora said.

Julie's eyes widened in surprise and she looked back over to the boy. "OH!" She gasped. Nora had told her long ago that she lost a little brother, that when she had found her in the highway that day, she had just lost him, had been wandering the streets in anguish. But he was back! "That's incredible! How'd you find him?"

"You dad found him and a few other children," Nora explained. "Addis, this is Julie, and that's R," Nora pointed to her friends. R and the boy locked eyes for a moment. R suddenly got a very blurry image, a very vague memory for seeing this boy before. He couldn't remember where or when... but he looked a little familiar. "R... do you remember seeing him before?"

"I... can't remember... I think so, but, I don't know..." R frowned his confusion and shook his head.

"I think we might have met before..." Nora said softly. "You and M... a long _long _time ago..."

"I... don't remember..." R said sadly.

"That's okay, I don't think we had any real encounter, it's not strange that you don't remember," Nora shrugged. "Marcus though... he _had _met us..." she said softy.

"He did?" Julie asked in surprise.

"He was the zombie I told you about, Jules..."

"No way!" Julie gawked.

"What do you mean?" R asked carefully.

"He bit me," Addis suddenly spoke. The three adults were silent as they gaped at the young boy. "But that's... o-okay, he's nice! ...He didn't eat... me and said... he would p-protect... us," he smiled.

"That's good. M is my friend," R smiled at the child. "He's a little rough around the edges, but really he's a big softy," he explained. The four settled then and ate, carrying on friendly conversations. Julie and Nora watched R talk with Addis, seeing the soft look in R's face as he did. The girls shared a look. It looked like R would make a good father by the way he interacted with Addis. Nora grinned knowingly at Julie, who blushed and concentrated on her eggs. John watched them from his spot in silence. He saw what the girls noticed as well, and saw how happy Julie was... maybe them being together wasn't a bad thing after all. His daughter had never seemed so alive before, and she was doing R good too.

After breakfast, Nora and John decided to clean up while R and Julie spoke a bit more with Addis. "So are you boy...f-friend and girl... friend?" Addis asked curiously.

"Yes..?" Julie rose a brow.

"Are you... going t-to... get married?" the boy's head tilted curiously.

"Um... eventually..." R responded with a blush.

"Do you... love each... other?"

"Yes," Julie and R both said, then shot each other smiles.

"H-Have you... done it?" Addis asked curiously, his face twisted into a 'that's gross' expression.

"WHAT?" Julie gawked. "Uh... that's a good question but- NORA! -I think it's a question you shouldn't be asking right now..."

"Why?" Addis asked curiously. "Nora told... me about the... birds and the... bees before..."

"Did she now?" Julie said through gritted teeth, then noticing that Nora _and _her father were by the door to the dining room. She gave Nora a pleading look and could see the amusement in her's and, surprisingly, her father's face as well.

After a few minutes Nora shook her head and went over to them. "Okay! I think it's time to give you the tour, Addy!" Nora interrupted, shooting her friend an amused look before helping her little brother out.

"Hmm, I like him," John nodded.

"You just say that because of how much he embarrassed us," Julie scoffed.

"That too," John smirked. "Now, aren't you two late for work?" He watched the two grab their things and rush out of the room without another words. He wasn't done with them yet, if they wanted to rush off and do what they wanted, John would make sure they remembered he was always there, we was always watching and he did _not _give them their way easily.

That evening, after a long and stressful day at work. Julie met R at his job as usual, and as usual a guard went with Julie. As this point Julie didn't make a fuss over it anymore and let him escort her. When she met up with R, then she _did _tell him to scram... though in as polite a way as possible. It didn't matter who the guard was, they always seemed to give her this knowing, smug look... though they regretted it afterwards when Julie gave them a friendly kick to remember her by. R and Julie walked back into the city and tiredly went up to R's apartment.

R collapsed onto the couch, breathing a sigh of relief and scooted over a bit to let Julie sit by him. He sat up and they leaned against each other. "Long day, huh?" Julie muttered.

"I think Greg is purposefully giving me tougher work to make up for the days I missed..." R sighed. He leaned forward and rubbed his neck, groaning slightly. "I might have pulled a muscle..." he said softly. He smiled when he felt Julie's hands nudge his own away and sighed in relief when she began to massage his neck and shoulders. R let his head hang forward as Julie worked his hands over the tension, easing it away with practiced fingers.

"Better?" She asked by his ear. R picked his head up and sent her a tired, but still charming smile.

"My turn," R twisted around on the couch and pat his lap. "Your feet," he smiled.

"No way, I've been on them all day, they smell," she scrunched up her nose.

"I don't care," R laughed, taking her legs and pulling them onto his lap. He removed her shoes and socks and watched her tense a moment before melting and giving him her own sigh of content. A few moments later, Julie sat up and moved closer to him. They were in awkward angles, with Julie's legs still over his lap, but she craned herself and pulled him to her, kissing him in appreciation. R moved closer, leaning against her so he worked himself between her and the couch, following her down against it, and deepened the kiss. They were just starting to get comfortable, when a familiar incessant knock on the door interrupted them yet again.

The couple sighed in irritation but knew if they didn't answer it, there would be trouble. R pulled away and leaned against the couch, rubbing the bridge of his nose. To think this was probably only the beginning, R didn't have to answer the door to know it was John. Oh his future father-in-law was going to make his life a living hell and he knew it. Sighing again, he stood and went over, putting on a smile as he opened the door. He liked John, he respected the man and could see why so many people in the city loved him, but he didn't like that the older man was taking such an interest in him, especially when R wanted to spend a relaxing evening with Julie... though maybe 'relaxing' wasn't the right word.

"R, Julie," John greeted, though he didn't see Julie at the door this time. R stepped back a bit, opening the door a bit to show that Julie was still lounging on the couch. She gave her father a questioning look. "Happy to see you too," John said gruffly, though a ghost a smile peeked through his stern expression.

"Hello dad. What can we do for you?" Julie greeted with a tired but cheeky smile.

"I thought it would be nice to have dinner together!" John smiled. "Come on, see you in ten!" John smirked and left before they could come up with an excuse. R closed the door and smiled at the groan of irritation from the woman on his couch. They got ready and headed off to the house. Nora and Addis were not there this time and it looked like John had already prepared the meal. They sat down and John gave them a knowing but stern look. "So, how was your day?" he asked casually.

"Long," Julie mentioned.

"And you, R?"

R took a sip of his water and thought about what to say. "It was hard but satisfying," he said as quietly as usual.

"You like hard work?" John questioned.

"Yes sir-"

"John," said older man correct.

"Right. Yes, John," R blushed. How could a man so much older than him, and probably weaker by now, still intimidate him so much? Right right, because he was sleeping with the man's daughter... and the man happened to be a military leader and tactician. Right. "Err, I enjoy the challenge and like that I get to help others and make up for my... questionable past..." R frowned a little, staring at his plate.

"Good," John nodded. "I respect a man who's willing to put his own comfort aside for the good of others." They ate a bit in silence before John spoke again. "So, what are your plans for the future?" he asked.

"Not sure. Right now I want to help those I can, but I was thinking that maybe... maybe I can help protect others too?" R shrugged. He had thought about that conversation he had with his friends that night, during the picnic.

"You mean you want to be a soldier?" John's brow rose.

"I want to protect people. I want to stop bad things from happening and help build a better world," the younger man answered. John said nothing but nodded in approval. Julie watched them talk in silence, noting the approval in her father's eyes, a much better reception to R than he had with Perry. It was a shock and a relief to see that her father had found one of her boyfriends acceptable. But this also meant that her father would try to test him, see how long it would take to break him and make him snap. Julie hoped R wouldn't blow up on her dad... she knew how volatile he could get when pushed too far.

After the meal, John requested they stay a bit more, to 'chat', and that's when the testing began. "So tell me, R... what would you do if Julie was taken again?" he asked carefully, noticing the tightening on the young man's jaw at the question.

"I'd get her back," R answered.

"What if there were no clues this time?"

"I'd search the state for her..."

"What if they took a plane?"

"I'd search the country," R frowned.

"You'd waste fuel and manpower to search a country?"

"It's not a waste. Nothing is a waste if it means getting her back," R told him.

"And if you didn't? If they raped her? Killed her? What would you do?"

"Dad," Julie frowned, not liking what her father was saying. She didn't care what he said about her, but she didn't like how stressed R was getting.

"I would... I would..." R's face twisted in frustration and anger. "I don't know," he grumbled.

"No, you don't," John nodded. "No one could know what they'd do in a situation like that. Would you look for blood? Would you kill the men who hurt your love? Would you kill yourself?"

"I would cease to be," R snapped at him. "If I lost Julie I would die again. I would tear myself up and become a Boney. I would search for someone to kill me," he growled. There was silence at the table then, both Grigio's looking at him in shock.

"That's enough, dad," Julie shot at her dad. She stood and offered her hand to R, who took it and got up with her. "That was messed up," she glared at her father.

"You're right," John shrugged. "But at least I know now you found someone worthy of you," he smirked. Julie and R stared at him as thought he had suddenly turned green. "Go on," he gestured them to go. "And R?" The two paused before leaving. "Take good care of my little girl..." he said, repeating what he had told him before he left last week.

"I always intend to," R answered, then left with Julie.

Julie and R made it back to the couch and slumped against it. R looked tense still, staring up at the ceiling from his slouched position on the spot. "I'm sorry about him," Julie said softly.

"I get it," R shrugged.

"He was too hard on you," Julie shook her head.

"No, he was trying to make sure you were safe... I respect that," R sighed, then looked over at her. "You deserve the best," he reached over to place a gentle hand on her cheek. Julie shook her head again and took his hand.

"I don't deserve anything. I'm not some saint or perfect girl. I've done some terrible things before. I did drugs, had... had sex for money... I ...I don't deserve _you_..." Julie looked away and attempted to get up, but R caught her and pulled her back against him on the couch. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

"I don't care what you did in the past. It doesn't make you any less perfect in my eyes..." R cooed. "I love you. I wouldn't trade you in for anything, anyone in the world."

"R, you're so cheesy..." Julie laughed softly but took his face in her hands and kissed him, moving over to sit on his lap.

"I think we were interrupted enough today," R mentioned, his hands slipped down past her hips. "I haven't been able to touch you all day and it's been driving me crazy..."

"But we kissed after work?" Julie reminded him, her gaze locked on his lips as they turned up into an easy smile.

"Hmm, not enough," R shook his head, brushing her hair out of the way to kiss the little bit of her shoulder exposed. Julie wrapped her arms around him as he lifted her up and carried her to the bed. Setting her gently down, they pulled their clothes off and took their time, making up for the long day without each other.

After a while, when they lay tangled in the sheets, Julie glanced up at him and smiled tiredly. "So, talking about making up for lost time, are you still making up for so many years without any?" She asked him playfully. R's response was simply to roll over her again and give her that little smirk that she liked so much.

"What do you think?" he asked, one of his hands back to doing things to drive her insane with desire.

"I thought you were tired?" Julie said distractedly, her hands twisting in the sheets to keep from grabbing him and having her way with him. She so loved it when he took over. In the past, with her past boyfriends, she had liked to take control, but mostly because she thought she didn't deserve to be pleasured, felt insecure and didn't want to let her guard down. Not with him though, R made her feel wanted and alive.

"I got over it..." R murmured against her skin, pushing her legs up around him again. Julie arched off the bed, losing herself into R's dedication to her. It was amazing how many sides there were to this man. He could be sweet and soft-spoken at one point, thoughtful and attentive the next, even tough and relentless, ...and then he had these moments to him where he was irresistable. He made her dizzy with need and she loved it.

Sleep deprivation had become a norm for them, not that they really minded... especially when the reason they had it was so amazing.

_TBC..._

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry I took a while to update, this chapter wasn't planned at all. I stupidly didn't write a chapter detailing how Nora, Addis, M, and R would react with each other so I had to tack it on. I only realized it at night so I didn't have time to write any of it! At least it didn't take me a week to update lol. Believe it or not, I had a small case of writer's block with this chapter, since I hadn't even written a summary for it. Hopefully the decent length makes up for the wait! ...I'm trying very hard not to make a perverted joke out of that...

Since I took so long to write and update this chapter, I'll probably take a little bit to update the next one too! Please be patient!

Shout-Outs:

**bonesbemmettlover: **Call it creative license lol I don't think Isaac has that planned, but I thought it would be a cute touch. Glad you liked it!

**AnthonyC22: **You ARE! And I DO have something planned for the Boneys lol.

**Fuinn13: **I completely understand. I have WAY too much time on my hands! But hopefully not for long lol. I want to start college back up soon!

**Reader1352: **Go on Zola Books and buy the prequel! It's great! Though make sure you have a couple tissue boxes nearby lol.

**Gembomz:** I thought it'd be in his character to be honest, you know?

**HordeFighter: **I laughed while writing it :D It's such a John thing to do!

**coadhpgg: **That's okay! I still appreciate every review I get! Doesn't matter the number! :D I'm happy that you liked John's adventures lol. The talk was fun to write!

**leiahlaloa: **My fan fiction, I've been calculating, will be in the 500 pages (or a normal, standard book)... which is twice as much as the Warm Bodies book is lol and it's just an epilogue to the movie! Marion needs to get his crap together lol if I can write so much in under a month, he can too! Unless he wrote himself into a box... IF and I say IF Marion takes too long to write his book, and or it's not so good, I might turn this into an AU and write my own sequel... but I'm not making any promises.

**Rue Bladesinger: **I hope you appreciated this chapter, it was completely unplanned lol but you're right, that conversation needed to happen. R wouldn't have remembered much because he really hadn't been there so much during that moment. I hope you're not disappointed with that.

**OmatikayaClan: **Lol not any time soon but yeah, IF IF IF I ever decide to write a sequel, note the IF! Then I might write something in...

**Sydney: **Right. R himself said in the book that zombies didn't remember the day by day, especially if a lot of time passed, but things can trigger memories. Since R wasn't a big part of what happened to Nora and Addis, he wouldn't remember much. I started laughing when I wrote that chapter too! Not sure about M and Nora "action" they're still kind of strangers, though becoming friends... if I ever choose to continue this - an I'm not making any promises - I'll be sure to develop them better. Any books like it? Well, considering Warm Bodies is a sort of unique style, a zom-com-rom, not having been done much before... I don't know if I could think of anything like it. The book Blood & Chocolate is about a girl struggling with who and what she is and trying to find love... it's werewolves though, not sure if you're into that. My favorite series right now that has a lot of character development and developing romance, though it's primarily an adventure book, is the Percy Jackson series. Other than that, the Maximum Ride series is great too. Those are the only ones I can think at the top of my head that you might like.

**brigid1318: **I did change it, because what I wrote before was not exactly what I intended to say. I didn't want to make anyone excited about R and Julie getting married (though I already did...) because it wasn't what I meant. I meant to say it was a distant future possibility, mostly because I still want to give Isaac Marion a chance to get his sequel out so I can possibly tie it all in... not sure how that worked out though. In the future, I might write something with them if enough people request it, but for right now I don't have anything planned.

**Lioness002: **I have the time because I don't have a life at the moment lol. I imagine R would always be kind, soft-spoken, and blunt. That's how he is in the book and that's how I wanted to write him. I'm sorry to say marriage won't be happening in this story. The scene I described was right from the book, though it might not have been one hundred percent accurate, I didn't bother researching so well lol shame on me, eh?

**No One: **Long review is long! Don't be lazy, damnit! I like communicating with my more dedicated readers lol and if ya ask questions, I like to respond quickly, not have you wait for the next chapter. Yeah go on ZOLA BOOKS to get it, not itunes.

**Eeyore1245:** I'm happy you like it! Yes, go on Zola Books to buy the prequel!

**Katie T:** No sweat! Yeah, Julie is a tough cookie, hard on the outside but sweet on the inside! I did change it, I had my reasons, yes. I didn't want people to think I had a wedding planned or anything, I wanted to show how devoted R was to Julie and that a marriage in the distant future was a natural next step. I mistakenly wrote it in a way that got too many people excited though, but I didn't intend it that way. I'm sorry if you liked it better before. I liked both Generals, but I honestly preferred the more happy ending from the movie over the depressing one from the book (I'm a sap, I found it depressing). I agree though, I felt cheated that Hollywood, once again, didn't do a movie more closely to the book and left a LOT out... but I preferred some scenes from the movie to the book, such as when R comforts Julie with a blanket, and that Julie didn't curse so much or act like a general bitch (though I know she had her reasons). I liked both versions and treat them almost like separate things. I'm glad you liked my versions of John!

**LaroFaro:** I hope the answer I gave you before pointed you in the right direction! I hope you enjoy the book!


	27. Chapter 27

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

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R and Julie had gone to sleep only a handful of hours ago, when they were woken suddenly by loud shouts and running from just outside. They sat up, rubbing pieces of sleep from their eyes, and glanced at each other in confusion. They got up, throwing on their clothes again and made sure they looked presentable before leaving the apartment. They peeked out the door and saw no one around, so they stepped further outside. Some people were running toward town square so they followed. They watched in surprise as once again half or more of the city seemed to be gathering in the center. What was going on this time?

Was it too much to ask for a few days of peace without something tragic happening again?

Pushing past people to get to the command central, they found John having a heated conversation with Rosso and a few others. "...Haven't gotten here yet, we have to prepare," John was saying.

"Dad?" Julie walked over to him.

"Julie, good, you're both here," John nodded to them.

"What's going on, dad?" Julie asked seriously, nodding to the others there in greeting.

"We just got a report that... well, a mass of Boneys is forming a few miles from here. It looks like every Boney left in the city. We think they're planning one last attack," he explained.

"We were just gearing up for war. I'm trying to convince your father to let the zombies help us," Rosso added.

"You mean the former dead?" R questioned.

"No, I mean the group of zombies that haven't started to fully heal yet..." Rosso clarified, giving them a sheepish look.

"They're dangerous. Unpredictable. We can't know if they'll suddenly turn on us..." John frowned.

"Isn't it a risk we need to take? Besides, didn't you yourself tell me you discovered the cure on your own? Convinced a corpse to help you?" Rosso challenged.

"Yes, but they were a handful. We're talking about dozens of zombies," John crossed his arm and stared at the floor thoughtfully.

"If they're starting to heal already, maybe this is our chance to spread the cure?" Julie mentioned. "Wouldn't teaming up with them, exposing them to more living, heal them? We should at least try..." she recommended.

John sighed anxiously and massaged his face wearily. They was right, he was just being a coward, falling back to his old ways. "What do you think, R?"

R blinked in surprise. He was asking _him_ for advice? Looking around he saw the look of interest in the others. They wanted to know what he thought too! It was an amazing wonder. "I... I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt. If they're even remotely willing to listen, they'll be willing to heal as well. I would," he shrugged shyly. Rosso smiled in approval and pat the young man's arm reassuringly. He liked this boy, he was a competent young man with a good head on his shoulders.

John nodded. "...Alright," he finally agreed. "Go send word, get them over here if they want to aid us..." John nodded to one of the soldiers there, who ran off to do as he was ordered. He turned to the rest of them. "Get geared up." While R and Julie went to the armory to get prepared, John ordered a handful of scouts to go out and track the Boneys' movements. He then went out to the center to try to reassure the people gathered and give a speech. He wasn't sure how inspiring he could be, especially this early in the morning, if one could call it that, but he'd give it his best.

Meanwhile, Julie and R quickly entered the armory and nodded to the soldiers already geared and leaving. There wasn't time or need to go to separate lockers so they undressed quickly, put on protective equipment, and left. "Hey, mind if I go see if M is around?" R asked quietly, glancing around anxiously.

"Sure, I'm going to go get some more info out of Rosso," Julie nodded.

R smiled and then jogged off. He hoped his friend was here. He found him near the medical tent, both Susan and Nora were arguing with him. R frowned in confusion as he stepped closer, listening in on their conversation. "...Not safe with your condition," Martinez was saying.

"I'm fine," M argued back.

"Fine? How can you say you're fine? You need to be in bed," Martinez frowned.

"What's going on?" R asked as he stopped by them.

"Nothing-" M tried to say, but Martinez stepped forward and explained.

"Marcus had a heart-attack," she began.

"WHAT?" R's eyes widened and his gaze jerked over to his friend in question.

"I'm fine!" M sighed in irritation.

"What happened?" R demanded. Both men stared at each other. R gave his friend a stern look, while M gave him a challenging one. When M still refused to give anything away, R decided he'd try a different tactic. Putting on a pathetic face, he tried to appeal to M's softer side. "M, you're like an uncle to me. What happened?" he asked in a softer tone. He inwardly smirked when M's face crumbled and he tried to avoid his gaze. So his sad eyes didn't _just _work on the women, then? Imagine that. Would it work on John? Probably safer _not _to try.

"Alright, alright, put that away," M growled. Martinez and Nora shared an amused look, despite the bad situation. "When I found out what I did to Nora, several years ago, I... the guilt was too much..." M shrugged, still avoiding their gaze. "I had a heart attack and almost had another while talking it over with her..."

"You never told me that," Nora frowned in concern.

"Didn't want to worry you," M shrugged again. He blinked in surprise when Nora went over to him and took his face in her hands, gently stroking the soft bristle of the beginnings of a beard over his cheeks.

"Don't go?" She asked softly. M gazed into her pleading eyes and almost gave in to her, but he shook his head, jostling her hands and sighed.

"I have to. Now more than ever. Don't you see? We _all _need to do this, all of the former dead. It is a way to make up for the atrocities we committed.

"I already forgave you, M. So did Addis... why do you have to put your life in further danger?" Nora frowned sadly.

"Because like lover-boy here," M jabbed a thumb in R's direction, "I have people I want to protect, to keep safe," he smiled at her. There was silence for a moment before Nora surprised him again by going over and hugging him tightly. M relaxed and put his own arms around her, hugging her close. "I'll be fine," he said softly.

"Be safe..." Nora whispered. M nodded and then gently pulled her away and turned toward the doctor. Martinez had a calculating look in her eyes.

"I don't like this," she said. "But I understand your need for redemption. God knows I can't ever stop R from being a knucklehead-"

"Hey..." R mumbled.

"-So I suppose I can't stop any of you. If this will help clear your conscience, maybe bring some clarity _and _prove me right... then alright, go, get yourselves killed," Martinez frowned and then turn, leaving in a huff. M and R watched her go in shock.

"Don't misunderstand her. She's very worried and hates goodbyes," Nora explained. "Good luck, both of you," she smiled weakly.

This time it was _she _who was surprised when R hugged _her_. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble," he smiled.

"Hey rugrat, that's my line," M grumbled playfully. "Where is Julie by the way?"

"She's talking to Rosso. I need to meet up with her again," R explained, pulling away from the hug and smiling reassuringly at Nora. "I'll meet you on the field," he nodded to them and left. As he made his way back to the center, he noticed how crowded it had gotten. There weren't just people from the city there. There were also former zombies and even semi-dead... zombies that were just beginning to experience life. Pushing passed them he began to panic slightly when he couldn't find her. "Julie?" he called, but she didn't answer. "Julie!" he waited a moment and sighed in relief when he finally heard her voice.

"R?"

R pushed past more people and found her standing in a crowd. Julie spotted him and walked over, walking into his embrace. They stood for a moment before walking ahead, toward the 'stage' that had been set up for John's speech. John was already up there, waiting for more people to show up. R glanced around. There was probably all the men in the city and half of the women there, most of the former dead that was fit to fight and probably all of the remaining semi-dead. They stood and waited for a while before John finally stepped forward and asked people to quiet down.

"You all know me," John began, speaking into the microphone, "and if you don't, well then know that I'm not good with words. Today will probably be the toughest most dangerous time we've ever had, any of us. I couldn't think of better people to fight this battle with than those here, _all _of you," he clarified, looking over to the mostly-dead who blinked up at him thoughtfully. "I was wrong," he paused, collecting himself. "I was wrong about the world... I was blind to see that despite how wrong humanity had become, how we tore each other apart, that we couldn't change. We can, and we are. I can see it in all of you, the seeds of change." People shouted approval, agreeing with him. This encouraged John, so he went on.

"It's now time to prove the world wrong too. Prove that we can put our differences aside and become brothers and sister again! Come with me! Beat back these horrors of the world and take back the world with me! What say you?!" John had surprised even himself with his words and was relieved to see how many people he had inspired with his words. All around the city people cheered, the mostly-dead tried to but they mostly groaned. It didn't matter, John's words had reached them as well and already there was a tiny, almost unnoticeable clarity in their eyes. "Come on!"

"Sir! General!" One of the scouts that John had sent rushed over. "They're here! They're coming in through the stadium! Through the broken roof!"

"Alright people, lock and load! Let's go banish these terrors from our city!" John called and received a resounding affirmative from everyone there. Rushing off, the mass of people armed to the teeth marched quickly, trying to stay in stealth formation.

R and Julie had been very shocked by John's speech, as they were sure others who knew him personally had been as well. It was amazing how far he had come, how changed he had become since the first day that R met him. He had went from a paranoid, brooding, and severe man to a hopeful, lively and changed man. It was a miracle. If he could change so drastically, then the world could. First though, they had to deal with a huge Boney army. R stopped them, his grip on Julie's hand tightening ever so slightly, and turned to give her a pointed look. "Stay together?" Julie smiled weakly.

"Stay together," R nodded in agreement. He leaned in and they spared a moment to kiss softly, though it was short-lived. They were jostled by a shambling semi-dead who eyed them apologetically, a very small smile trying to force it's way out of the grimace on her worn-looking face. R nodded in understanding and took a breath to calm his nerves. They trudged on, deeper into the subway. They could already hear the angry screeches from the skeletal monsters in the stadium, mustering their numbers for the attack. R had expected the armed living to either be ahead of the partial-zombies or the semi-dead to be in front and act as meat-shields... but no, John ordered them to fight side-by-side. As they entered the stadium, the Boneys saw them approaching apparently. From their position, R and Julie couldn't exactly see what was going on, but they could hear it. Loud growls, screeches, hisses, gunfire, and yells suddenly exploded in the air. It had begun.

"Where is M?" Julie yelled over all the noise.

"I don't know!" R answered.

"Come on," Julie grabbed R's hand and pushed through the thick throng of people. If it weren't for the vice-like grip on his hand, that threatened to cut off his circulation, all the jostling and hectic moving around from the people around them, it would have separated them in a second. Circling around to try and find M was probably not the brightest idea as it left the open to attack. "Look out!" Julie swung her shotgun forward and blasted a Boney in the chest, sending it flying back against another soldier. They both stumbled but Julie didn't pause, she rushed forward and finished it off, helping the soldier up.

"Thanks..." the young man puffed and nodded to them, then continued firing.

"M?" R called.

"Over here! Get this thing off me!" Was M's disembodied voice from somewhere in the crowd. R and Julie rushed over and found M holding a Boney away by the neck as it desperately tried to bite at him, snapping it's cracked, ugly teeth at his face. R barreled over and kicked the Boney off his friend. At the same time, Julie stepped beside him and unloaded her shotgun in the Boney's head. M sighed in relief and let his old friend help him up. "You two certainly make a good team," he smirked, then pat R, who blushed at the compliment, on the back. "Come on, let's kick some Boney ass!"

Boneys crawled from the holes in the roof, dropping down and trying desperately to tear into their victims. Many fell back from the sudden wave, but they had many people there to help them out. "Shit..." R's eyes widened. He dropped his ammo pack just as a Boney was heading right for him. With a cry of anger and determination, he grabbed the Boney before it could do any damage to him and slammed it down against the floor. Holding it down he took out a knife he had been carrying around lately and stabbed the Boney in the head. It flopped for a second before it stopped moving altogether. R breathed a sigh of relief and picked up his ammo case again. He glanced over to how Julie was doing and nearly gasped.

Julie had her hands full. Grappling with one Boney while keeping another away as it tried to tear her gun away. She smacked the one trying to rip at her face with the butt of her weapon and then blasted the other in the face. Unfortunately, at such close range, the blast knocked her back, knocking into M who stumbled to the floor at the impact, sending them and the Boney he had been fighting crashing to the floor. R ran over to them and kicked the Boney that Julie had smacked out of range again before it could retaliate. He loaded his weapon quickly and removed it, then went over to help Julie and M up. "That was close," Julie panted.

"It's not over yet!" M grunted and smacked a Boney that had tried to sneak up on them across the face with his Glock. The Boney stumbled and turned just in time to see a gun pointing at his face. "Hi!" M said cheerfully, then fired into the Boney's face. The Boney's head jerked back and snapped as it fell backwards in a heap.

"R! Behind you!" Julie yelled, smacking another Boney across the face with her shotgun.

A Boney launched itself toward R, attaching itself to his back. R could feel teeth on his neck. "SHIT!" He gasped and yanked it off him. Unfortunately, the movement caused the Boney to scrape it's teeth against his skin. R arched back in panic, twisting and throwing the monster off him, gasping in pain.

"Fuck! R! You okay?" Julie's eyes widened but was too distracted by another couple Boneys nearby attacking another young soldier. She shot at one, blasting it in the shoulder, but it sent it flying toward a cluster of other Boneys attacking more people, knocking them down. The advantage going to the living who blasted the Boneys apart in the pile.

"Agh!" R fell to one knee, shaking from anguish as the virus attempted to spread into him, one of his hands hovering over his wound and groaned in torment. He almost sighed in relief when he felt the familiar searing sensation spread through him, whatever anti-virus immunity he and the rest of the former dead had in them, viciously attacked the virus trying to get him. It spread through his veins like wildfire, making him believe he had actually caught on fire.

"R?" M called, having a moment of peace to go over and check. He slid next to R and the older man roughly yanked R's collar down to see the wound better. The black and gray skin was rapidly retreating and becoming red, as though he had third-degree burns before he began to bleed again. "It's fine, you'll be fine," he sighed in relief, patting him on the shoulder and got up.

R stayed still for a moment, waiting for the pain to die down a bit. "God, it really stings," he whined, but a moment later forced himself back to his feet and back to the fray. Blasting his way through another, - though distracted this time - Boney.

Julie slammed the Boney that was attacking her away and ran over to R. "R! R? Are you okay?" She asked breathlessly, wanting desperately to hug him. "Please tell me you're still immune..." her voice shook with concern, watching him roll his shoulder a bit before nodding to her.

"I am, don't worry," R smiled as soothingly as he could to her, reaching a bloody hand to her to caress her equally messy cheek. Blood, filth, and sweat were all over them by now, but it didn't stop them from finding each other beautiful. Julie leaned into the touch, relaxing slightly. Suddenly, she moved unexpectedly. R blinked when Julie pushed him aside slightly to shoot a sneaking Boney apart, then pulled him down to her and kissed him. When she pushed him away again he blinked in confusion for a moment but then blushed and smiled at her.

"No time for hanky-panky right now, kids! More to kill!" M shouted teasingly, chuckling once more when they blushed.

"There's always time for that!" R shouted back, blushing even as he said it.

"Nice, R," Julie snickered. It was her turn to look at her boyfriend strangely when he shoved her a bit. A Boney went soaring between them.

"Romantic," M chuckled.

"M, shut your trap!" Julie sighed. It almost seemed like M was trying to make up for Nora not being there. She fleetingly wondered how she was doing. With all of this going on, she would probably have her hands full with injured people coming in pretty frequently. At least she was getting lots of practice in! Still, M needed to knock it off before he-

"M! Look out!" R turned to his friend just in time to see two Boneys slam into M, forcing the older man to the ground, his gun skidding away from him.

"That's why you need to concentrate!" Julie groaned in exasperation and rushed over with R to try to help, unfortunately, they were blocked by another pair of viciously screeching Boneys. This time, they were saved from having to spend ammo by a semi-dead, slamming into them. The half-dead man had a baseball bat and proceeded to slam it against the heads of the Boneys. "Thanks," Julie nodded to him, receiving a weak nod in return.

Meanwhile, M wrestled with them, glad that he had gotten just a little stronger in the months since his rebirth. He grabbed one by the neck and yanked it to the side, slamming it against the other, who screeched in irritation. M growled in effort as he forced them off him and rolled over to get his gun, gasping for breath as he aimed for the horrors. His vision was a little blurry from fatigue and pain, but he managed to clumsily finish off the Boneys. "I'm fine..." M wheezed and nodded in thanks when Julie went to help him up.

"Come on, we're just getting started," Julie smiled humorlessly. Together they banded and faced the seemingly endless waves of skeletal terrors rushing toward them. They joined their comrades, fighting with them.

All around them living and mostly-dead fought side by side, an impressive wall of brotherhood stood against the army of Boneys, firing in unison as it tore through the remaining remnants of the old, viral world. The Boneys didn't stand a chance. Seeing them being defeated by those who had been under their spell not so long ago, fighting together with those that should be their _food_, was demoralizing and a finally nail in their coffin. The more they tried to attack and lost, being defeated by the living-dead combo, the weaker they became, until they could no longer put up a fight.

Together, the living and the dead blasted their way through the Boney horde, destroying them utterly. All of this took only a matter of hours. When the last Boney fell, when the battle was done, there was a collective silence. Suddenly the silence was broken by a mass cheering. John hopped up on one of the bleachers and raised his hands, trying to quiet everyone down. "As far as I know," he began, waiting for people to listen to him. "We're ALL family here! All of you are brothers and sisters! Once we make sure that no Boney or enemy is left in this city, the walls will come down," he waited for the cheering to settle.

"Anyone object to _all _of us going back home to the city?" he asked. He was risking a lot by inviting the mostly-dead inside also. One little bite, one little accident, and there could be a contagion in the city... but he had to trust that this could work. He had to see to it that the cure won, that the virus was defeated. He knew also that there was very limited space in the city, but if all went well, he didn't plan for there to be so much crowdedness either. When the walls fell, there would be more space, more expansion. Lifting his eyes to look around him, all he could see was the tired but pleased faces of the people there.

No one objected.

"Let's go home," John smiled, hopping down, and led the way one more. The mass of people, guarded by John's soldiers just in case, walked back into the city in a more relaxed manner. A few soldiers stayed back, patrolled the outside a bit more, shooting the remaining Boneys who tried to weakly crawl over to them, try to nibble at their heels, but they were finished. Once back in the city, R, Julie, and M met up with Martinez and Nora who were waiting for them. Addis was there too and it was yet another shock to them when the boy lumbered over weakly and hugged M around the legs.

"You said you... would protect... us..! And you... did..!" The boy smiled. M relaxed and awkwardly hugged the boy back, ruffling his hair. When he pulled back, Nora hugged him as well.

R and Julie smiled at the scene. Julie reached down and took R's hand, smiling up at him and nodding toward Addis. R tilted his head in confusion and Julie rolled her eyes, reaching up to kiss him. "Some day, in the _distant_ future..." was all Julie whispered to him. R stood for a moment, still a bit confusion, when suddenly it clicked in him and he blushed and smiled. Julie laughed at his reaction and kissed him again.

The medical staff had to work extra shifts to attend to all of the wounded and semi-dead that were beginning to heal. R and Julie watched in amazement at the mostly-dead as they were spoken to, treated medically, and thanked, that, before their very eyes, began to change. Where they all had uniform eyes of the dead, they began to change. Green, blue, hazel, brown... so many colors, it was beautiful. R put his arm around Julie and grinned down at hr. "It's happening, you see it?" he asked.

"Yeah! It's amazing!" Julie grinned back. The world, at least, in their little slice of it for the moment, was beginning to mend. "You know, we should probably go out and try to reach the others... try to _really _heal the world..." she suggested.

"You're right, we should," R nodded, then pulled her a little closer. "But not right now... let's just... bask in the moment?" he smiled at her and she nodded in agreement.

John had been watching them. He had seen the changes as well and had been momentarily struck speechless. So many zombies coming to life, just because they were being treated like living. Removing the influence of the Boneys over them was perhaps the best things that could ever happen. He walked over to his daughter and future son-in-law and startled them slightly by placing his hands on either of their shoulders. "Good job, you two. I'm glad you made it out of there safe," he smiled at them.

"Thanks dad," Julie responded with a little smile.

"Inspiring speeches you made today, John," R smiled over at him too.

"R, because of you and my daughter, the world has a chance to start anew again," he smiled at them freely now. "The world is on the mend and I couldn't be prouder that it's because of you two. I'm proud to have you as a daughter Julie," he leaned in to kiss her cheek, amused by her speechless expression. "And I'm proud to formally welcome you to the family, R," he put his hand out for the young man. R stood stunned for a moment before Julie elbowed him slightly, having recovered from her own astonishment... partially. R blinked back to reality and accepted the man's hand, grinning at him. "Now, I expect to see plenty of grandchildren soon," he smirked at them, watching them flush and look even more stunned. He chuckled, patting their backs and left them.

"I guess you're stuck with me..." Julie smiled up at her _fiance._

"Stuck? No, I'm... blessed," R grinned at her. They put their arms around each other and turned back to the lively city around them, watching in amazed silence.

Finally the world was beginning to make sense again.

_TBC..._

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**A/N:** Some of you might have seen this chapter coming lol. I'm sorry that I didn't actually write much action this time, I might have been in a hurry to update and also to tie everything up... unfortunately, I have to report that the end is coming soon... but if you knew what I was writing, that this was all R's final speech at the end of the movie, you would have known that already.

**Note:** I went back and added just a little more action for those of you who asked. I'm sorry if it isn't much.

Shout-Outs:

**bonesbemmettlover: **Agreed! John was just making sure Julie was safe :)

**leiahlaloa: **Like I said to her, I don't plan anything in my story, I just say that it's a distant possibility, which I think I can say. If it's true love and they're meant to be together, I'm sure it's in the future, yes? Just not in this story lol. If I choose to write an AU sequel (not planning to at the moment though), then I might add something in. Don't worry, I have some experience both personally from my brother's wedding and writing them lol. A wedding would probably be the final story though, since I think after that it gets, I dunno, domestic and sort of boring lol but that's probably because my parents aren't very romantic and I haven't experienced it myself :P

**OmatikayaClan: **Thank you! Yeah, I meant John to be even harsher, but I couldn't think of what he'd say at the moment and I was pressed for time lol.

**coadhpgg: **Why would you want him as a brother lol? I hope ya liked the M/Nora bit I added here!

**Chippiously: **I know, right?! He has "kids" in the book and that scene in the movie where he's riding that conveyor belt and looking at the kids with that soft look inspired me here lol.

**Sydney: **I haven't read Blood & Chocolate in a while but it's always been one of my favorites. The movie was UTTER CRAP though... It was hard to get all the emotions and forgiveness in the story done so it was plausible and not cheesy or unrealistic... I'm glad you got a kick out of my lame humor lol.

**Xanna: **Aww, thanks! Who does my writing remind you of? I've always thought my writing was kind of mediocre or novice, lol.

**No One: **Glad I did as well as I did in such a short time then lol, took me two hours to write it all up... mostly because I kept getting interrupted. Aww thanks, but I'm not THAT good at writing lol, I'm okay... the perverted joke uh well, lol nevermind. I've wrapped up pretty much everything actually lol.

**Fuinn13:** Not long now I'm afraid :\

**4MeJasper: **Wrapping things up, had to tie things up, you know?

**AnthonyC22: **Yes, hot and heavy would be the right term lol. Not a nuke or anything, but I hope it was still okay. I had to parallel my story to the movie, after all... if you watch the last scene, you'll see what I mean.

**Fang-delight: **No worries! They were WAY too distant in age in the movie, but in the book M was a lot younger... so I guess in my story you can look at him either way. I tried to blend both M's by giving M the beginnings of a beard in this chapter lol meh...

**hermione321: **I can't possibly answer that lol. I love them both equally. Since they're both different, have different styles. They both have their pros and cons.

**brigid1318: **Cool! What's it like over there? Anyway, sorry for the wait! Yep, like I said to Sydney, it was hard to tie it all up and have people forgiving each other... I guess I was trying to show a moral or something lol. John was as mean as he had to be to make sure his daughter would be okay, you know?

**BabyYoureMyOxygen: **Haha, don't be silly, this is nothing compared to what I'm capable of! Glad you like it though!


	28. Chapter 28

Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

_Everywhere in the world, people will be singing_

_And everywhere in the world, things will be a changing_

_And everywhere in the world, people will be spreading _

_Laughter, kindness, love and comfort, comfort..._

~ John Dahlback - Everywhere (D-O-N-S- Vs Tranquillo Chill Mix)

**A/N: **Warning. Mild Suggestive Material.

* * *

Two months had passed since R's rebirth. One week after Julie had been abducted and things were finally starting to look up. Things were, so far, going great for everyone. The zombies that had helped destroy the Boneys were now beginning to heal like the rest of them. Families were being reunited and even a bit of love was flourishing. The medical staff had to work night and day to attend to the mass of extra people in the city. Even Addis, who in a matter of days managed to heal up enough to be able to move around easier and speak smoother, ran around trying to help Nora. It was a wonderful week, with the world healing around them.

That morning, Julie Grigio woke as she usually did, draped over a warm, strong body, her head resting over his chest. People say that when you sleep next to someone, you usually end up on opposite extremes of the bed. That might have been true if R had a larger bed. R still had a twin size bed and refused to trade up if he could... after all, why give them waking up to a beautiful women sprawled over you like he did every women? Ah but they both knew that even if he had a king size bed, they'd always find a way to end up waking up with their arms around each other. Since they met, they had gravitated toward each other... even when one of them tried to put some distance between them.

And so, like every morning, Julie laid still, listening to the chirping birds outside and R's soft breathing. When his arms tightened around her ever so slightly, it either meant he was awake or having a very nice dream. Either way, it meant pleasant things would follow. Julie smiled and craned her neck to look up at him. As soon as she did, his eyes opened and he smiled back at her. "G'morning," Julie said as half-asleep as usual. R simply smiled and moved a little to reach her, kissing her. Julie had in the past tried to shy away from morning kisses, claiming she might have bad breath, but R couldn't care less. He had been dead, had spent years of his unlife in filth, rotten flesh, maggots, and trash... bad breath? No way. To R, Julie never smelled bad, no matter what she did.

"So what's the plan for today? On this beautiful weekend?" Julie smiled.

"Hmm, it's a surprise..." R smiled back.

"A surprise, huh?" Julie moved so she was laying fully on top of him. It was a good thing she weighed so little. She leaned in to kiss him again, enjoying the feel of his hands over her. They spent the morning laying in bed together, holding each other and talking. A little while later, on R's behest, they got up and joined each other in the shower. Once they finished, Julie went to sit by R's mirror in the bedroom while he finished getting ready. Usually it was the other way around, but today R seemed to be a bit more meticulous than usual and she had to wonder why.

A few minutes later, R stepped out wearing a clean and nice looking blue button-up shirt, jeans, and his 'new' sneakers. "Looking sharp there, R," Julie smiled at him. It wasn't exactly a suit and tie, but for them to be able to find such nice clothes in a world that no longer manufactured new clothes, at least for now, and those that didn't have any worn parts, re-sewn parts, or patches... it was a rarity. So yeah, he wasn't dressed like a business man, or in a tux, but he still looked amazing. Though to Julie, he _always _looked amazing in whatever he wore... or didn't.

Julie wasn't dressed for combat either though. Since R had mentioned wanting to surprise her, she figured she'd dress nice too. Wearing a simple yet very pretty white skirt, sandals, a nice blouse and a blue sweater on top. She looked like she was ready for a stroll in the park. They _both _looked like that, actually. Funny how things turned out. R straightened his shirt a little. "You like it?" He smiled back.

Julie made a motion for him to turn in a circle. R smirked a little and did so. "Very much..." Julie walked over to him and straightened his collar a moment. They smiled down at each other. Julie could smell a bit of aftershave on him, she reached up with one hand to stroke his clean-shaved jaw tenderly, leaning in to kiss it appreciatively. R raised a brow when she teasingly slipping her other hand under the collar, caressing his neck and shoulder and pulled back to give him a look. R's hands went around her waist and they moved to kiss each other.

"What are you... doing?" R murmured against the kiss, feeling her fingers run down the seam of his shirt slowly, unbuttoning it as she went.

"You don't wear 'fancy' clothes often, right? Mostly plain shirts... I've always wanted to try this on you..." Julie answered, opening his shirt and pushing it slowly over his shoulders. R didn't stop her, shrugging it off. They pulled each others clothes off again and fell upon the bed. After spending some more _quality time together_, they got dressed once more. "So, you never told me. What's the occasion?" Julie questioned, brushing her wild hair once again.

"I didn't tell you because you never gave me a chance," R teased, re-buttoning his shirt and passing a wet comb over his own hair. When they were finished getting ready – again – R smiled and turned to her. "I wanted to take you somewhere... show you something," he said, offering his arm to her. Julie grinned and accepted it, letting him take her where he wanted. They walked out of the apartment, greeting those around them amiably, no longer worried that someone would see them exiting R's apartment together and run and tell the General. John had accepted them together, given up his daughter to another man. People seeing them together had become a norm and something to be expected. Especially since they rarely fought or spent time apart.

"Is it far from here?" Julie asked as they waited for the wall gate to open. To think, very soon this wouldn't be necessary anymore!

"It's a bit out of the city, the whole city I mean," R explained. They stepped out, greeting Kevin on their way.

"It's all ready, R," the older man smiled. "Filled it up myself!"

"Kevin, you didn't have to do that!" R sighed, though smiled at his friend. Kevin and R had become pretty decent friends the past week, since R started taking a bigger interest in learning how to use a rifle and his shotgun. Kevin had invited him to a simple football game with his friends and had a fun time learning how to play. There were still a few people who looked at the former zombies oddly, but at least they went out of their way to interact with them and tried not to discriminate. R in particular had earned the respect of most of the people in the city, so fortunately, he didn't have as many problems as some did.

"No sweat, man," Kevin pat the young man on the arm and winked at Julie. "You two have fun, huh?"

"Thanks Kevin," Julie grinned at him.

"Shall we?" R offered Julie her choice and was surprised when she sat at the passenger seat. "You sure?"

"You've been practicing, right?" Julie's brow rose.

"Sure... but I still drive like, well, like a 'stiff'," he shrugged and smiled when Julie laughed.

"Come on, buddy, get in," she beckoned him with her finger. R smiled back and sat down, checking his mirrors and putting his seat-belt on. They drove for a while before Julie started getting impatient. "So where are we going?" she asked.

"I found a really nice spot around here, a long time ago..." R explained mysteriously.

"A nice spot for..?"

"You'll see..." R grinned. They took a few minutes more before the red convertible pulled up to what looked like a subdivision under construction. It was a small neighborhood of half constructed houses, untouched by the horrors of the world. Since there was virtually nothing of value anywhere in any of these half-constructed houses and lots, there was no sign of human activity anywhere near it besides construction. R stepped out of the car and ran over to Julie's side, opening her door and offering his arm again. Julie rolled her eyes at his cheesy chivalry, but accepted his arm, secretly enjoying the special care he took to please her.

They walked to a bare lot, overlooking the other houses in the small culdesac. "This place is awesome," Julie mentioned. It was so... clean and peaceful there. No trash, no bodies, no graffiti, no X's on the doors, it was amazing that R managed to find this place. R let her go for a moment and walked to the middle of a grassy field, stretching his arms out.

"So what do you think of this spot?" He asked with a curious smile.

"For what?" Julie smiled back, tilting her head curiously.

"For our house!" R chuckled. "This is where I'd like to start our future together... if you want..." he dropped his arms and smiled at her.

"You want to _build _a house for us?" Julie's eyes widened. She had never heard of anything more romantic. It was such an R thing so to!

"I've been learning a lot about construction," R explained, this time beckoning _her _to him. Julie walked over and wrapped her arm around his middle as his went around her shoulder. They looked around them, seeing the beautiful views, untouched by the horrors of the world. "I just need to learn a bit more and I'd be able to build it, no problem," his chest seemed to puff out pridefully.

Julie shook her head in amusement. "So, how long would it take?" She challenged him.

"...Maybe a year or two..." R shrugged.

"It might take less with some help from friends though, right?"

"...Yeah..." R blushed.

"R," Julie turned and cupped his cheeks. "I don't need some fancy house or anything – not saying I don't want one though!" She quickly added. "You don't need to do everything yourself to look any better in my eyes," she smiled, knowing he was trying to impress her. "It would mean a lot to me if we could get friends to help. It'd be nice and fun, don't you agree?"

"I guess it would be," R smiled. "So how big would you want it?"

"Ah, I dunno..." Julie shrugged. "That depends..."

"On what?" R asked curiously.

Julie smirked and kissed him slowly. They pulled back when need for oxygen became too great and she pulled him down slightly so she could whisper in his ear. "Depends on how many kids there would be..." she grinned.

"Oh..." R blushed. "I guess in that case, ...it's up to you still," he smiled.

"You have no preference?" Julie's brow rose.

"Nope," he shrugged.

"So you'd like to? Not now of course, but maybe in a few years?" Julie wrapped her arms around him, ducking her head slightly so she was resting her cheek against his chest.

"Yeah, why not?" R grinned back.

"Think you can handle a bunch of little brats?" Julie smirked.

"A bunch?" R blinked.

"I was thinking at least four..."

"Four?" R laughed.

"With the way we go at it it'll probably be more," Julie snickered.

"You're right," R nodded, and hugged her tight. "Doesn't matter to me, it'll be great no matter how many we have..."

"You're going to spoil them rotten I bet," Julie smiled up at him.

"Oh definitely," R chuckled. "They'll probably get discipline from you and whatever they want from me," he teased.

"Hey, I want to spoil them too," Julie laughed. "God knows they'll deserve it..." Most people when talking about raising kids often spoke about how strict they wanted to be, for some how unlike their parents they wanted to raise the kids... but in these times, to be able to spoil your children, when there was so little in the world so far, when it was still so dangerous... it was a luxury. Of course, that didn't mean they wouldn't be stern with their children when need be, teach them the ways of the world and prepare them for the worst, but a little pampering didn't hurt, so long as the children didn't turn into little terrors themselves. "What's this?" Julie asked as they approached the car again and R opened the trunk.

"I thought it'd be nice to enjoy the day a bit more?" He pulled out a box and a blanket.

"A picnic?" Julie laughed. He really was a cheeseball.

"Yeah! Have it right here where our future house is going to be," he smiled and offered her his arm again. Julie took it and helped him set the blanket and food out. They had a lovely lunch of canned vegetables and fruit with a little surprise. "You dad knew about my plan today and gave me this," R pulled out a bottle of wine.

"Damn, R, you're going all out," Julie laughed and crawled over to kiss him. It was surprising this past week how much her father and R had been bonding. They both discovered that they liked working with their hands, fixing things was one of the things they both seemed to be good at. John had shown R his little workshop behind the house and they often spent a bit fixing radios, car parts, and whatever else they could get their hands on. It was amazing how far her dad had come, how much he approved of and accepted R.

They ate lunch peacefully, talking and laughing under the sun. After they ate, they laid out on the blanket and watched the fluffy white clouds drift by, pointing out what they saw, laughing and joking with each other. They lay there in comfortable silence for a moment, before R noticed something. He reached forward and plucked a piece of grass from Julie's hair, smiling at her. "How'd that get there?" Julie smiled back and took the blade of grass.

"Maybe it's nature's way of..." R shook his head, deciding not to go on.

"Of what?" Julie braced herself up on her elbows to peer down at him.

Instead of answering, R placed his hands on her waist and rolled them over. He smiled down at her and leaned in to kiss her softly. "Nature's way of suggesting we should be rolling around in the grass..." he finally said playfully, suggestively.

"M's been a bad influence on you," Julie snickered. M and Nora have been hanging out a lot lately... maybe it was the combination of both of them having an influence on him. Whatever it was, Julie certainly liked the results.

"Maybe," R smiled, letting his hands run up her leg teasingly, pushing her skirt up as he went.

"Mm, but what about..?" Julie's question was answered when R pulled out a familiar little packet from his pocket. "Naughty boy..." Julie laughed, finding it even more amusing when R blushed. How could someone manage to look both enticing and adorable at the same time? He had a gift for it. Julie shivered in anticipation as R got them comfortable. She had to wear skirts more often, it made this much more fun. It was amazing how far R had come in a month since the first time they were together. Every day there was less and less need to 'help' each other along. After spending some time together, they settled with the longer part of the blanket over them. It was fortunate that they were completely alone out there.

Two hours later they took their time heading back home, taking a drive around the city and see if they could spot other places like the future home. If humanity was going to rebuild itself, it need a fresh, clean place to do so, did it not? After the pleasant drive around the city, they stopped just outside the walls, looking up at them. "It's almost time, isn't it?" R asked.

"Yeah, dad said it would be just as the sun began to fall. They had a lot of preparation to do, after all," she shrugged.

"I know where we can have a nice view of it," R smiled.

"Another one of those places you found?"

"Yep!" R grinned, then drove a bit into the city outside of the walls. He drove up to a bridge on a hill, a perfect spot for the 'show'. He parked the car and they walked hand in hand up a bit more. R plopped himself over the railing, smiling encouragingly at Julie and offering his hand to her. Julie eyed the railing warily but took his hand and settled down next to him. Today was the day that the city opened it's doors again to the world. Since sending more troops into the city and a bit further to look for more threats and not finding any, not even in the sewers, John had decided it was time. Besides, they could always send regular patrols out to make sure the city stayed safe!

As they waited for the walls to be torn down, Julie pressed a little closer to R, letting out a soft breath of contentment. The world was finally perfect to her. So long as Julie had R in her life, it was the closest she had to heaven. She had everything she wanted, really. Her dad had become a bigger part of her life, warmer and more caring, she found love in an amazing man, the world was healing, and there were no more horrors anywhere nearby. There were obviously still some threats in other states, there were still people who didn't like the change, still other sanctuaries to deal with, such as Goldman Dome, - though they didn't seem to want any hostilities, kept to themselves mostly, - but at least for now, in their little corner of the world, things were as close to perfect as could be.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, simply watching the city. "R?" She asked, suddenly thinking of something.

"Yeah?" R answered curiously, kicking his feet idly as they dangled over the edge of the railing. The late afternoon sun dances around them, warming them and giving the city a halo. It was getting quite cool, but they didn't feel it, they basked in the fading sunlight and settled closer to each other.

Julie paused. "Do you remember your name yet?" She asked softly.

R shook shook his head slightly. "No..." he muttered. Actually, he hadn't even _tried _to remember. Not ever since Julie named him, what felt like years ago.

Julie frowned thoughtfully. "Well, you know you could just give yourself one. Just pick one, whatever you want!" She smiled. He could at least pick a last name if nothing else. After all, R Grigio? Wasn't it the girl who usually changed her name? She snickered inwardly.

R thought for a moment. What name could he possibly pick? What could be better than the name that Julie had given him? "I like R," he shrugged.

Julie blinked "Really? You don't wanna know what it was? You don't want your old life back?" She asked in surprised, looking up at him with a little smile.

"No," R smiled, shaking his head again and giving her a loving look. "I want this one..." he declared, his eyes telling her how much _she_ was his life now.

"Just R, huh?" Julie rested her head against his shoulder, shutting her eyes blissfully.

R smiled softly as he gazed out into the city. "Just R," he agreed.

As the walls fell, opening the city to the rest of the world once again, life felt pretty good. Despite all the horrors and hardships they had gone through, R wouldn't trade his life here, with Julie by his side, for anything in the universe.

_The End..?_

* * *

**A/N:** Ahh, what a wonderful journey we had together! I'm sure NONE of what I wrote happened during the time between the last couple scenes, but that's where creative licenses play in! I hope everyone loved reading this story just as much as I loved writing it! Like I said before, I don't have anything planned next. No sequel in mind or anything, but you could always try to convince me to write one lol who knows, it might work! I am planning to take the chapters with suggestive content in them and re-release them in mature one-shots... but that'll be later down the road when I have the time.

Now go read the book if you haven't (shame on you!) and eagerly await the sequel with me! Here's a bit of trivia for you, this story is twice as many pages combined as the Warm Bodies book! Warm Bodies was 249 pages, this mere epilogue expansion to the movie is in the 500's lol. It is more than four times as many words as the prequel, too. Come on Isaac Marion! If I can write this many words in this short a time, surely you can too! Lol! It might interest you to know that I originally started with a plan of 20 chapters... so you got 8 extra ones! Because I love you all!

The above song I quoted (below the disclaimer) is the end theme to the story... go listen to it, but make sure you listen to the right remix! Think of it as the song played at the end credits to a movie!

**Please let me know what you thought of this story! Feedback is enormous help to me!**

Shout-Outs:

**Xanna: **Unfortunately, all things come to an end... I love James Patterson, I feel greatly honored that you think I'm even REMOTELY like him in my writing style lol he's a master with words.

**4MeJasper: **Bah, I'm not a speed writer, I just have nothing else I should be doing lol!

**bonesbemmettlover:** Haha, no, no wedding, not in this story anyway :P sorry about that!

**ExtremelyLazy: **Thank you and you're absolutely right! I hadn't been adding enough action. To tell you the truth, as you might have noticed, I struggle with that. I've never been very good at writing action, I've always been better at narration and dialogue... I'm sorry it wasn't the best. But I did go back and flesh out the final battle with the Boneys a bit more. The reason I didn't detail John's adventure was for several reasons, it would have taken several chapters if I did and people were more interested in R and Julie, and more importantly, I meant it to be as a flashback... though I don't think I managed to get that across very well. Thank you for your input! I appreciate you opinion, it helped me to fix my story up a bit more!

**Katie T: **This was the epilogue, sorry. I hope you liked it lol. I added more to chapter 27 too, added a bit more action! The New Hunger is, like I said several times, an ebook exclusive from zola books. It's not too expensive and definitely worth getting!

**OmatikayaClan: **I'm happy you enjoyed it!

**brigid1318: **Are you kidding? Don't apologize! I love long reviews! Yes, that makes sense, I'm glad you enjoyed reading this 'cover to cover' then! Unfortunately, since this story was an expansion of the end of the movie, I couldn't add too much M/Nora stuff. IF IF IF I ever decide to write more after this, I'll be sure to try to add more. So you were born is Japan? Oh it'll be a cultural shock alright. I was born in Argentina to tell you the truth. I was raised in USA though, but when I went back to visit my grandparents, everything was so alien to me! It was a shock and a relief to be back home lol. American's aren't very nice until you get to know them better lol.

**Horsecrazy141:** For now, I don't have anything else planned. When I get Warm Bodies on DVD and I get my book back and re-read it, it might spark up another idea for a story, at least another desire to write more. Also, I gotta wait until Isaac Marion gets his sequel out and read it to see what I can do. I might do a one-shot or two, but like I said, I have nothing really planned right now besides a little bonus I'm working on.

**coadhpgg: **Not in this story :P did you get my message? Yeah. Don't worry though, I'm still planning that mature vignette lol.

**AnthonyC22: **Yeah, I wanted M to still be amusing lol that little "hi" was inspired by that scene in the movie where he greets the soldiers lol I thought it was hilarious. Aliens reference time! "I say we nuke 'em from space. It's the only way to make sure..." LOL.

**No One: **After I went back and detailed a bit more of the action if might have seemed okay. You should have seen what I had written before! With the added detail, I bumped up the word count from 4200 to 5400! That's nuts! Yeah, probably kissing during a fight wouldn't be sane or realistic, but I thought it'd add to the humor lol. Glad you liked his speech! I wracked my brain trying to figure out what to have him say lol. I'm happy you could join me on this little journey! It was fun talking to you :P

**LoneTread: **Ah! I thought I caught all the spelling errors! Drat! I'm glad you enjoyed my story!


	29. Bonus Soundtrack!

Consequences

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything related to Warm Bodies, or any of these songs.

Bonus! Soundtrack - music that inspired each chapter or music that I think fits a "scene" - SEARCH THESE SONGS ON YOUTUBE! They are listed by chapters. As you can probably tell, I have a pretty eclectic taste in music.

* * *

**1**: Coldplay - Cemeteries of London (This is the main theme of the story, the song that inspired me to write it.)

**2**: Sarah McLachlan - Fear (Julie's fear of losing R.)

**3**: Depeche Mode - Dream On (R's struggle in the day by day and his lack of self-worth.)

**4**: Coldplay - Lost (John feeling trapped by his own mistakes reflected in Scott. R feeling like he deserves the pain he's feeling, and Martinez wondering when all the pain of the world will stop.)

**5**: Chad Valley - Evening Surrender (R and Julie getting closer...)

**6**: Chad Valley - I Want Your Love (Same as above.)

**7**: Bile - I Reject (Mostly what the Boney's might be feeling, if you listen to the lyrics.)

**8**: Nine Inch Nails - Hurt (The general dark mood of the chapter and R's feeling like he's still a monster.)

& Chad Valley - Shell Suite (Julie tries to knock some sense into R.)

**9**: Fear Factory - Zero Signal (Fight against the Boneys.)

& PJ Harvey - One Line (R and Julie starting to feel the strains of stopping themselves.)

**10**: Ryan Farish - Open Sky (Much lighter tone, feeling that things will be alright.)

& Chad Valley - Reach Lines (Same as 5 & 6.)

**11**: Natalie Walker - Color Blind (Julie's grim emotions after learning someone tried to take R's life.)

**12**: Jakalope - Feel It (Things are starting to really heat up between R and Julie...)

**13**: Alice In Chains – Rooster (R and the group search the city for Boneys...)

& Nine Inch Nails - The Great Below (Fight against the Boneys and the Purists, and R's utter terror.)

**14**: M83 – Soon, My Friend (R and Julie reunite.)

**15**: Save Ferris - Let Me In (R and Julie dance.)

& Sister Machine Gun - Burn (R is having trouble controlling himself...)

**16**: Mokhov - Halcyon Days (R and Julie spending the day together.)

& Trifonic - Lies (R and Julie finally succumb to their desires...)

**17**: Bruce Springsteen – Hungry Heart (R and Julie dance again. R basically seduces Julie [though _not_ intentionally] by playing on her sentimental heartstrings. )

& M83 - Reunion (Shower Scene redux) [Reunion is the "sequel" to Midnight City, go watch the awesome music videos on Youtube! Start with Midnight City. And by the way, I knew of "Midnight City" years before Warm Bodies...]

& M83 - Skin of The Night (The lovers embrace that night once again...)

**18**: Feist – The Bad In Each Other (Walking through the broken city... how original! Sarcasm. The movie had it right the first time lol.)

& JES – Into The Dawn (R and Julie [and their friends who decided to tag along, -to their chagrin...] go on a scavenger hunt... bad things happen!)

**19**: Phantogram - You Are The Ocean (Julie is still a little spooked by R's bite incident. R tries to calm her down.)

**20 **Hans Zimmer - Time (R's desperation to find Julie. Julie trying to keep up her tough front, refusing to break.)

& Interpol - Pioneer To The Falls (R's dark state of mind when he fails to find Julie...)

**21**: Health – Tears (R and the group break into the Purists' base.)

& Dead Man's Bones - Lose Your Soul (R fights and kills(?) Tommy, despite his conflicting feelings over killing again.)

**22**: Arcade Fire - Black Wave (R thinks he's going to die, but doesn't, and Julie shoots Scott.)

& M83 - Too Late (R and Julie reunite when she wakes up.)

& Red – Pieces (R holds Julie throughout the night.)

**23**: Frank Sinatra - Try A Little Tenderness (R comforting Julie by singing to her.)

& JES – Heaven(Myon Remix) (R makes sure to kiss every scratch and bruise on Julie's body.)

**24**: Hol Baumann - One Step Behind (John's 'adventures'.)

& Natalie Walker - Color Blind (Nora is reunited with Addis.)

**25**: Peter Gabriel - I Grieve (M begs Nora for forgiveness.)

**26**: When in Rome - The Promise (A lot of forgiveness [and hints of something more] between M, Nora and Addis, and general friendship abound.)

**27**: Black Diamond Bay - I Dreamt We Were Bank Robbers (Planas Remix) (Epic music for the final epic battle against the Boneys.)

**28**: Groove Armada - Inside My Mind(Blue Skies) (R and Julie spend the day out.)

& John Dahlback - Everywhere (D-O-N-S- Vs Tranquillo Chill Mix) (End theme - listen to the lyrics, the last part in particular, "and everywhere in the world, things will be a changing, and everywhere in the world, people will be spreading, laughter, kindness, love and comfort, comfort..." very fitting. R and Julie watch the walls crumble.)


End file.
